


Reconditioning

by madness_on_the_milano



Series: The Flora Colossi and the Enhanced Procyonid [10]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Acceptance, Angst, Child Abuse, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drax the Dad, Drax's A+ Parenting, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gax's F Grade Parenting, Gen, Hair Brushing, Here Be Swearing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, In Retrospect I Fucked Up On Names, Love, Past Abuse, Past Torture, Rocket Is A Tiny Cuss Machine, Rocket Whump, Rule Breaking, Rule Keeping, Torture, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Who Can Blame Him After Gax?, like a lot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2019-10-07 22:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 73,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17374049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madness_on_the_milano/pseuds/madness_on_the_milano
Summary: Rocket had thought that his creator was the only paternal figure he would ever have. Naturally, the universe sent him another tall, frequently angry and rather violent bald man. At least this one does genuinely love him. Not only that, but Drax point blank encourages him to break all of the rules Gavaar set in the lab. Well. Who is Rocket to refuse?Art by the wonderful and talented OfMonstersAndMe!





	1. Rules 5, 7, 8, 11 & 12

****

**_Rules #5, #7, #8, #11 and #12_ **

**_5) Subject to be clean at all times._ **

**_7) No animalistic sounds_ **

**_8) No animalistic posturing_ **

**_11) No digging through walls._ **

**_12) No mentioning the brush._ **

_"Have you been digging into the walls..?" Gax asked, pulling 89P13 out by his foot. "You have! You're covered in dust."_

_"There was a weird noise, so I fixed it."_

_Gax peered into the small hole 89P13 had made. "So you're the reason Senix found herself sitting on the toilet in pitch black..."_

_Oops. There had been several wires 89P13 had pulled at before the noise had stopped. He had wondered what they were for and now he knew. He stroked at the light-coloured powder on his sparsely covered forearms and sneezed._

_"Don't touch it, it's probably got bacteria in it that hasn't been discovered yet." Even so, Gax lifted him onto the side of the basin with no apparent fear of the supposedly dangerous bacteria and opened a drawer. "I turned my back for two minutes. Two minutes and you caused mayhem-"_

_"But, Gax, you always said that if there's a problem that I can fix, then I should fix it!"_

_"You're right, I do say that. Ah." Gax brought out something odd and placed it in 89P13's hands. "Have you ever seen one of these before?"_

_89P13 looked at the thing. It was a long metal rectangle with a lengthy handle made of the same cold silvery metal. One side of the rectangle was covered in tough bristles that tickled his palms. "What's this?"_

_"That's a brush. It's too large for you to use by yourself, but this is how it's used." Gax moved 89P13's hand to the back of the brush and guided him to smooth the bristles over his arm. The dust rose in the air like a cloud and then seemed to disappear as it fell back down. "This is going to get rid of the dust," Gax said and then he pulled 89P13 onto his front. "I know you have sensitive hearing, but it's dangerous to pull at wires, especially if you don't know what they're for. You could have electrocuted yourself fatally."_

_89P13 tensed as something touched his back, but it was only the bristles from the brush. It smoothed over his shoulders and he marvelled at how nice the feeling was. He had never known anything so soothing._

_"And you really shouldn't take walls apart. What if you collapsed it?"_

_"That would be funny."_

_Gax swung the brush onto his back, where fur didn't grow. The bristles dug into the unprotected skin and, as 89P13 yelped, he said; "It would not be funny and would, in all likelihood, result in you dead and buried under a pile of rubble. Does that really sound funny to you?"_

_"No!"_

_"That's right." Gax started the brushing again and 89P13 rested his head on his hands. "I wish you wouldn't do that. It's animalistic."_

_"It's comfy." 89P13 said, but he obligingly rested his head on the cold, sterile surface instead. He knew Gax was pissed enough with him and had no wish to annoy him any further._

_"Don't get too comfortable. I want you to stand up soon."_

_"Why?"_

_"So I can get rid of the dust on your front."_

_89P13 turned his head to look at Gax. "Why didn't you let me stand up for my back?"_

_"Because I didn't want to get dust on your tail. How it managed to escape unscathed, I'll never know..."_

_"Why do I have a tail anyway? You don't."_

_"We're different things. Get up."_

_89P13 got up and held onto the brush to help. "Why do I have one?"_

_"Because that's how you turned out." Gax answered and he brushed at 89P13's chest, seemed satisfied and then removed the remaining cover of the fine powder from his arms. "That's better."_

_89P13 pointed at his head. "Gax, you missed a spot!"_

_"So I did." Gax tsked. "Put your head forward and hopefully, the dust won't go all over you again..."_

_89P13 hoped it would. He found that he very much liked having his fur brushed, even if it had only happened once so far. He closed his eyes, unable to stop himself from pushing his head against the bristles. Something rumbled inside his chest and he touched it, feeling the noise vibrate against his fingertips._

_"Are you a cat?"_

_"No."_

_"Then why are you purring like one?"_

_89P13 hadn't even known he'd been purring. At least there was a name for the strange sound. "I don't know."_

_"Stop making that noise."_

_89P13 tried. But, the longer the brushing went on, the louder the purring was. Logically, he knew that the only way to stop purring was to move his head, but he physically couldn't bring himself to do it. He would rather get a beating for being disobedient than lose the only thing he'd ever known that felt nice. "I can't."_

_"Do you want the muzzle?"_

_"No!" 89P13 definitely didn't want that horrible thing trapping his jaws shut, not if he could help it. He held his breath and the purrs quietened enough that Gax apparently couldn't hear them._

_"See what you can do if you only try?" Gax asked and he put the brush away, to 89P13's sorrow. "Do not ever burrow into those walls again, you understand me? Not only is it dangerous, it's messy."_

_"But I fixed the problem." 89P13 pointed out._

_"You fixed the problem by creating a new one." Gax said. "Still, it's not our problem. Now, what's the new rule?"_

_Reluctantly, 89P13 said; "Don't dig into walls without permission."_

_Maybe it was the reluctant way 89P13 repeated the rule or maybe Gax was still angry with him. Either way, he held out his palm. "Give me your hand."_

_"But-"_

_"Now."_

_Maybe it would just be the one finger. The last thing 89P13 wanted was for it to be two or three. With this thought in mind, he held out his left hand. It had been some time since the fingers on this hand had been dislocated. He didn't want to look and closed his eyes as his creator took his hand and selected the index finger._

* * *

This was not what Rocket was expecting to see when he walked into the common area. He hadn't imagined for one second that he would see such an unusual sight, but sure enough, there was Drax brushing through Mantis' black hair with an ornate wooden hairbrush, the emerald green highlights in the Empath's locks glinting in the light. Rocket could still remember how good it had felt when his creator had brushed his fur all those years ago and felt a pang of envy as he watched Mantis relaxed and happy as Drax pulled the bristles through the fine strands of hair growing from her head, careful of her antennae.

Dammit. He wanted to be in her place. For the past seven years, he'd not bothered to find a brush, just smoothed his fur into place with water if he didn't like how it looked. Now he wished he'd tried, at least, to find a brush suited to his size. It was tough luck on his part and, he told himself, he didn't _really_ want a bald man coming near him with a brush after the _last_ time.

_Did he?_

"Rocket?" Aw, fuck, Drax had seen him watching. "Are you alright?" His eyes followed Rocket's gaze at the brush in his hand. Surely, he wouldn't figure it out. Surely, he wouldn't know. "Would you like a turn?"

Oh, goddamn. Of course Drax had figured it out, the jerk. For such a blunt and occasionally misunderstanding man, he had an awful habit of knowing exactly what it was that other people wanted. "Nah, you're busy." Oh, hell, why had he said that? He could've said "no, why would I?" Instead, what came out was downright petulant. 

"Mmm." Drax said calmly. He set the brush down and met Rocket's eyes even as he deftly plaited segments of Mantis' hair together. "Should you change your mind, I will be in my cabin."

"Thanks, but I won't be changing my mind."

* * *

He did, in fact, change his mind. At some ungodly hour of the night, he found himself outside Drax's door, wondering just how he had allowed himself to become so pathetic, grovelling outside someone's door for a midnight grooming session. What if Drax was asleep? Last thing Rocket wanted was to wake him up from a deep sleep. Drax was prone to giving hour-long lectures to anyone dumb enough to wake him up and Rocket had no patience for one of those. He touched the button to open the door and walked in. And, to his horror, there was Drax very much awake. They stared at each other in dead silence as the door closed quietly behind Rocket. Finally, Drax said; "I didn't hear you knock."

"I did." Rocket lied, turning his head slightly so Drax wouldn't see his ear flick.

"Mmm." Drax rumbled for the second time in less than four hours.

Rocket could see the brush. It was the sight of the stupid thing that made him blurt out; "If you still want to, y'know, brush me, you can."

Drax looked at him with eyes of soft blue. "I have your permission?"

"Yeah, if you really, really want to." _'Please want to.'_ "I mean, I don't care if you do or not, but if you do...it's okay with me."

Drax nodded briefly and sat down on his bed. He gently patted the numerous blankets strewn over his mattress. "It will be comfortable here," he explained and Rocket briefly froze before stepping toward him. Drax lent him his hands and pulled him up before reaching for the brush with its delicate bristles, so different from the sturdy, almost needlelike things on the brush in the lab. It didn't even have a handle, simply a back with beautiful, intricate engravings. "It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? It belonged to Kamaria."

"Your people have hair?" Rocket asked, looking at the smooth, shining head of the Destroyer.

"The females have hair. Males do not." Drax said. "Hovat had black hair which was so shiny that I could make out my reflection in it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Kamaria inherited her hair colour from her mother, but it was fine and delicate." Drax turned over the brush to show Rocket the back. "I designed this pattern. She took after her mother so much that I wished for her to have something from me."

Rocket looked at the pattern, worn down through the several decades after the child had been murdered, imagining Drax lovingly taking care of a small, gurgling, grey-skinned infant. He imagined how it must feel for him to use the thing now and looked down. "Are you really sure you want to use that?"

"It was made to be used." Drax said lightly and he touched behind Rocket's ears with his free hand.

* * *

_"Why haven't you eaten your reward?"_

_89P13 loved grapes and would ordinarily have devoured it in milliseconds, but not today. Today, he wanted something much nicer. "I don't want my grape. I want you to brush me again instead."_

_"That's not on the table. Eat your grape."_

_"Gax, please?"_

_"I said no."_

_"Why?" 89P13 asked, frustrated._

_"Because you are not a fucking lapdog, you're a weapon in progress. Act like it!"_

_89P13 scowled, picked up the grape and threw it at Gax without having so much as a fleeting thought of the consequences of his actions. It was only when the surprised incredulity on his creator's face gave way to calm, simmering fury that he realised what he'd done. "Gax... Gax, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-"_

_"Didn't mean to, my ass!" Gax snapped. "If you're going to waste food like that, you can go without your night meal-"_

_"Gax, no!"_

_"Or, if you prefer, I_ could _get the brush back out-"_

_89P13's ears flicked up._

_"-put you over my knee and beat you with it until you learn your lesson."_

_89P13's ears drooped back down. "Don't want that." he mumbled. Depending on how mad Gax was, beatings could last anywhere from up to minute or up to an hour. Right now, he was livid, which made hunger a preferable option._

_"That's what I thought. And if you dare to ever mention that brush again, you know what I'll do?"_

_"You'll beat me with it."_

_"That's right." Gax bent and scooped him up from the floor before walking over to 89P13's cage. "You're finished for today. You'd better sleep."_

_"But I'm not tired." 89P13 protested, pushing at his creator's shoulder in an effort to keep his attention._

_"You're not eating tonight, so you may as well sleep." Gax said simply. He took 89P13's hands and lightly dropped him to the bottom. "We won't have any more nonsense tomorrow, will we?"_

_89P13 could see his water bottle in its small cage, attached to the bars of the one he lived in. The bottle was 3/4 full and might be enough to keep away the ache of hunger, if only for a few hours. "No, Gax." Hopefully, his creator wouldn't see it. Hopefully, he could make his punishment a little easier to bear._

* * *

He was in heaven for all of twenty seconds when the purring started. And it was loud. Much, much louder than when he'd been small. But Drax didn't even seem to notice, so Rocket pretended that he didn't either. Kamaria's brush was amazing, way better than the one in the lab. Rocket couldn't imagine how he could have loved the thing so much when there had clearly been better alternatives out there. He pushed his head back, smushing it into the bristles.

"I didn't know that you enjoy this." Drax said.

"What? Pfft. Of course I don't!"

"But you're purring."

Oh, fuck. Drax had noticed, all along. "I don't mean to do it-"

"It's not a problem. It's just something that happens when you like something."

Gavaar had always taught Rocket to be ashamed of the purring. Being told that it was something natural, something normal...it felt strange. "It doesn't...bother you?"

"No. It's a good sound to hear."

That was news to Rocket. "It is?"

"Yes. It means that you like something."

"Gavaar said I sounded like a cat when I did it."

Drax was contemplatively silent for several minutes. Finally, he said; "There is nothing wrong with sounding like a cat."

"I hate cats."

"Have you ever been in the company of one?"

"...No..."

Drax smoothed the brush over his arms. "It's normal." he said as the purrs started up again. "It's a response you cannot control easily. It wasn't fair of him to hold the purring against you."

"Yeah, well, fairness wasn't exactly that jerk's thing." Rocket pointed out, pushing his head back again. "He didn't brush my fur to be nice or to even reward me for doing a good job. First and last time he brushed me was because I'd gotten myself dusty, diggin' through the wall to fix this high-pitched noise that wouldn't go away. Got my finger pulled out its socket for 'engaging in risky behaviour' as if he wasn't the jackass openin' me up when he felt like it..."

Drax must have put the brush down because all Rocket felt was a careful hand stroking behind his ears. It was crazy. He'd spent over seven years fearing the touch of one bald man and found himself willingly in close proximity to another.

It had been years since the brush incident - the much more painful, second incident - but Rocket could still remember it as if it had only happened seconds ago and the words spilled out without his consent. "It felt so nice that I wanted it again. I asked him if I could have my fur brushed instead of a grape and he said no."

"Why did he refuse?"

"Said I wasn't a fucking lapdog." Rocket shrugged. "Didn't want me going soft. He told me that if I so much as said anything about the brush again, he'd use it to..." He stopped, unable to go on. He could still remember how he'd found a bunch of tangles in the fur on his chest and showed them to Gavaar. Stupid moron, pushing his luck. He could still remember asking if the brush would get rid of the tangled clumps, as his claws had managed to pick away a few of the strands. Nope. All Gax did was cut the lumps of fur away with the surgery scissors and ask a question he'd already known the answer to. Had 89P13 just broken the new rule of not mentioning the brush?  
Naturally, Rocket had lied. What else could he have done? It was only when he had been trying to convince his creator that he was probably going deaf, that Gax had finally snapped, grabbed his test subject under one arm, found the brush and proceeded to lay down the worst beatdown Rocket had ever received. To say it hurt would be an understatement. It had hurt to sit down for nearly three weeks. "Long story short, I ended up getting in trouble. Got myself hurt pretty bad."

"He beat you."

"He always beat me. Wasn't nothin' new."

Drax touched his shoulder gently with the flat of his palm. It was careful, but Rocket flinched. Stupid. Drax was always careful with him. "You didn't deserve that."

"I was the one who pushed my luck-"

"That's what children do." Drax said and he ignored the exasperated look Rocket shot his way. It didn't matter how many times Rocket told him that he was a weapon in progress, Drax had it in his mind that he was a kid stuck in a lab with a mad scientist for company. Maybe he had a point. "That's what Groot does on an hourly basis. That man put it in your mind that you deserved the horror he inflicted on you, but he was wrong. He was always wrong." 

"I know that!" Rocket grabbed Drax's finger and directed his hand to the brush. "Never thought he was right to do the stuff he did." He shuffled back as the soft, circular motions started up again, on the back of his neck this time. Again, he thought of the little girl the brush had been meant for. "Did she like it? Kamaria."

"Yes. Her hair was fine and delicate, but I would brush it all the same. I believe that it tickled her." Drax smiled distantly. "She would always smile and laugh whenever she saw her brush."

Drax wouldn't have raised so much as his voice at his daughter for asking to have her hair brushed. He wouldn't have hurt his child and yet he'd lost her. Gavaar had hurt Rocket and here he was, alive, while Gavaar was hopefully dead on some desolate planet in the Keystone Quadrant. It wasn't right. None of it was right. But here they were. "Will you do this again?" he asked Drax, quietly enough that they both could pretend he hadn't asked.

"If you want me to." Drax said simply.  

It was the exact opposite to his creator's answer. Rocket exhaled a breath he hadn't known was in his lungs. He looked at his hands, feeling the brush move behind his ears. His back ached, not out of pain, but memory. Of all places, his back had felt the nicest when the rough bristles of the lab brush had been travelling down it. His fingers moved to the zipper of his jumpsuit, but then he remembered the ugly metal lumps, the bald spots around those metal pieces...he didn't want to repulse Drax and put an early end to the brushing session he had found himself in.

"You don't need to hide." Drax said, but he didn't stop. "I've seen your back before. Many times."

"It's disgustin'."

"What was done to it was disgusting." Drax did stop, just to pet behind his ears and then he started to brush his fur again. "But it's yours and if you don't want to show it, you don't need to." He was silent for a short while and then added; "That being said, if it was injured, it would be better for you to get help for it."

"There's always a catch." Rocket muttered and he lay on his back, having grown tired of sitting upright. "Don't stop."

"Where do I brush now? Your shins? You have not made this simple." Drax complained and then he did as he had suggested, brushing over his shins. "Why are you twitching your feet?"

"Turns out I'm a little ticklish." Rocket explained. He caught sight of Drax's gleeful expression and scowled. "Don't you even think of takin' advantage of this!"

"But it's tempting!" Drax complained. "Oh, so be it. I won't...this once."

"Unless you want a bomb up your dickhole, you'd better not ever!" Rocket warned him, but somehow, he knew that Drax would. He supposed that if he was in Drax's shoes, he wouldn't be able to resist either. He watched Drax put away the brush and closed his eyes as the man began petting him. This was heaven - freshly brushed fur, gentle hands, comfy bed, warm blankets and the knowledge that both purring and wanting to have his fur brushed were not, as Gax had said, unacceptable. In fact, Rocket had a suspicion that both of those things were going to become quite regular in the future.

 


	2. Rules 16 & 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for you, Mattchewy!

**Rule 16) No cuddling**

**Rule 28) No playing.**

_"Gax, I'm bored."_

_"Did you finish your task?"_

_"Yes." 89P13 pulled his creator's sleeve to make him look at the screen. At the top showed that he had managed to outwit the puzzle in three minutes and sixteen seconds. Not his best score...but not his worst either. "Just a second faster than last time." he said apologetically._

_"That's not bad. You'll get another chance at it, but try harder next time."_

_"But it wasn't much faster."_

_"Even a little bit of progress is something. You're getting better." Gax said and he gave him a grape - which 89P13 took as evidence that the second hadn't displeased his creator after all. Gax pointed at the squiggled lines on the monitor screen. "I need to finish this and I don't want you to distract me, understand?"_

_"But I'm bored."_

_Gax looked around the room. He lifted 89P13 up from the floor and placed him on the shelf by the door. "Count the floor tiles if you want something to do..."_

_"That's even_ more _boring!" 89P13 complained. That and he had already counted the floor tiles, many times. There were seventy-nine._

_"If you don't want to count them, that's fine. Just stay quiet and still."_

* * *

Things were undeniably stale on the ship. Usually, Rocket could defeat boredom by working on one of his side projects, but for some reason he couldn't get stuck into them as he normally did. He made sure everything was in its rightful place and left his workspace to find out if there was anyone around. He was so bored that if Quill asked him to be his dancing partner, he was probably going to agree.

Things were bad. Terrible.

The sound of heavy breathing filled his ears. He was a little nervous of what he might find, but followed it anyway. Luckily for him, it was nothing too traumatising. Just Pete, doing his chin-ups. Rocket thought he was cheating, really, because his feet were still touching the floor, the toes pushing against it. "Quill, you really shouldn't stand while you're doing that."

"Huh! - it's fine, Rock - ungh! - been doin' it like this for years."

"Don't look like it to me."

"Rocket," Pete huffed, voice strained from his exercise. "I gotta concentrate for a sec. Go find Groot."

"Your bug sister stole him."

"Uhh! - Gamora!"

"She's in the shower."

"Where - huh! - is...Kraglin?"

"Making tonight's dinner." It was a known fact that the Xandarian worked better alone while cooking. If it wasn't, Rocket would have been with him instead of bothering his captain.

Quill knew this and he puffed out; "Drax."

"He's polishing his blades." Yet another thing Rocket couldn't help with. Drax held his blades so sacred that no other person was allowed to touch them. Even the knife he had taken from the guy in the Kyln was beloved. Rocket could understand that. It was exactly like him with his own weapons. "Quill, give me one good reason why I can't find us a nice, useless moon and-"

"No - ungh! - exploding moons!" Quill insisted. "We'll get - huh!- in trouble."

"Only if we get caught!"

"I'm serious." Quill huffed. "Don't!" He held himself up and looked at Rocket through eyes that were tearing up with effort. "Gotta concentrate," he reminded him.

"Okay, Pete, okay." Rocket sat against the opposite wall and watched him heave himself up and down. Did Quill seriously weigh that much? No, he was probably just putting on a show to gain sympathy or admiration. Probably both, if Rocket knew his captain. Well. There went the only idea for entertainment Rocket had. He left Quill to his 'exercise' and wandered around until he found himself in the dining hall where Drax had set up shop. He couldn't see the man's face, but he gathered by the way he was collecting his blades that he had finally finished shining them up. Rocket looked at the back of Drax's head, all he could see of him, and had an idea he'd not had since he was very, very small. Breaking into a silent run, he sprinted to where Drax was sitting, bent his knees and jumped onto his shoulder.

* * *

 _It had been eight minutes since 89P13 had been banished to the shelf and he was even_ more _bored. He swung his legs over the edge, looking down at the floor with its 79 tiles and huffed quietly. He knew it was around four feet from the shelf to the floor. It was nearly six feet from himself to Gax. He could probably jump that if he tried._

 _89P13 was struck by the thought. If he tried, it_ would _help the boredom go away. And he was sure he could do it - Gax had said once that he was like a little rocket ship taking off when he jumped, and that he could probably jump even higher than one could fly, too. That had been an exaggeration as he had later learned. He couldn't jump miles into the air. But six feet? It would be a challenge...but he could do it if he really really tried. He went on all fours and edged back until he could go no further, bounded to the edge and leapt. For a few, blissful seconds he was flying through the air. He reached out for Gax's shoulder so he could land safely and that was where disaster struck. His hands slipped, he flipped over in mid-air and his feet made contact with the monitor, pushing it over. He heard a loud crash and landed in the middle of his creator's lap, stunned and silent._

_Hazel eyes met his amber. Both creator and test subject were quiet for some time. Then, Gax said very softly; "Explain yourself."_

_"I wanted to see how far I could jump." 89P13 admitted in a low tone. "I made six feet...isn't that good, Gax?"_

_Gax pulled him by his arm until he was sitting on the recently emptied desk. "What did I tell you earlier?"_

_"Count the floor tiles."_

_"Mmhm. What else did I tell you?"_

_89P13 knew where this was going. He could tell by how Gax's eyes flitted toward the broken monitor on the floor. "Um...you said..."_

_"What did I say?"_

_"...you couldn't be distracted."_

_"And what have you done?"_

_89P13 put his hands over his eyes nervously. "It was an accident. Didn't mean to kick over the monitor."_

_Gax's fingers closed around 89P13's ear and pulled harshly._ "What have you done?"

_"Ow! I distracted you!"_

_"You certainly did, and in a very dramatic fashion, too."_

_"Gax..." 89P13 used a hand to try and pull his creator's fingers away from his ear. "I didn't mean for this to happen!"_

_"What were you planning when you jumped?"_

_"It wasn't to kick the monitor, I promise!"_

_"No? Then what?"_

_"I meant to land on you!" 89P13 insisted._

_"I see." Gax said and he let go of 89P13's ear, holding onto his collar instead. "And you thought this would go unnoticed?"_

_"Well...yes!"_

_Gax sighed and looked upwards. "89P13, you might be small and light, but I assure you, I would have noticed if you had succeeded in what you were planning to do. Either way, I was going to end up distracted and you were going to end up in trouble. Luckily for you, that-" he turned 89P13 to look at the broken monitor. "-saves the progress as it's typed. I can use another monitor, so at least my time wasn't wasted."_

_'And at least I won't be punished for it.' 89P13 thought to himself._

_"Why did you jump, anyway?"_

_89P13 looked at his hands. "I was bored and it seemed like fun. And it was fun, until I wrecked the monitor." In hindsight, that had been kinda fun too. But he wasn't stupid enough to tell Gax that._

_"How many times must I tell you that it's against the rules to play around in this building?"_

_"I told you I was bored!"_

_"I gave you a perfectly good solution."_

_"No you didn't. I've counted the floor tiles 48 times and there's still seventy-nine and it's boring in this building and-"_

_"What do you think this is, a kindergarten? You're not here to have fun, you're here to learn and evolve!"_

_"It's not my fault you didn't listen!"_

_"Don't you think you're in enough trouble right now without being a petulant little brat?" Gax asked and he grabbed 89P13's ankle, his fingers reaching for the toes._

_"No!" 89P13 knew what this meant. He didn't want Gax to dislocate his toes. "Gax, please! I'm sorry! No!"_

_"Choose a number between five and ten."_

_"No!" 89P13 screamed._

_"All ten it is..."_

_"No, no, no, no!" 89P13 begged. "Five!"_

_"Try a little higher."_

_"Six!"_

_"Try again."_

_"Seven!"_

_"That's a nice number, but it's an odd number. Why not an even number?"_

_More than anything, 89P13 wanted to say; 'Fine, dickwad, eight!' but he knew that if he did, all ten toes would be popped out of their sockets and he couldn't have that. "Eight." he mumbled._

_"Excellent choice." Gax said as if it had been one. He held the right foot in his hand and looked at 89P13. "Uncurl your toes."_

_It was nearly impossible, but he did it. He closed his eyes as his creator held the larger of the five toes between his fingers and pulled until with a pop and squeal of pain, it came out of its socket. The one next to it received the same treatment and the one next to that and then the smallest toe was popped from the socket with an ease that came from practise. 89P13 started shaking violently as the left foot was seized. "Gax, please. It hurts!"_

_"That's what punishments are for." Gax said and he popped out the largest toe._

_89P13 yelled out, kicking his freed leg, although he was careful not to knock anything against his injured foot. The second toe was popped and he felt tears dampen his fur. "Gax, please, stop! Gax!" But Gax wouldn't. He popped out the third toe and, finally, the fourth, resulting in his test subject screaming and sobbing at the tops of his lungs. 89P13 felt as though his feet had been partially set alight._

_"You might as well go back home for a few hours." Gax said, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. "I need to find another monitor to finish up the report - without the distractions you so willingly provide."_

_"Put them back in, put them back in!" 89P13 pled desparately. "Please, I'm sorry! Put them back in!"_

_"No. Ask again and I'll dislocate the remaining two."_

_89P13 did not ask again._

* * *

It did strike Rocket as slightly insane that he was going to attempt the same trick, seven years after Gax had dislocated eight of his toes for the same crime. Thing was, he was so bored that the danger was far outweighed by the potential amusement he was going to get out of it. The same, even he had to admit, could be said for the _last_ time. Regardless, he crept over quietly and took a running jump. He was larger and heavier, true, but he was also used to making jumps like these and he landed on target. Drax jolted sharply and, as Rocket stepped onto the table, the man grinned widely. "You _startled_ me!" Rocket didn't know if he was seeing things or not, but was that something like pride in his eyes?

"Ha! I know, you should've seen the look on your face, Drax!" Something cold pressed under his foot and he flinched when Drax held out his hand. But it wasn't for him. Drax had been moving a knife he must have forgotten to collect. Rocket looked down. Would Drax be pissed because he'd stomped on the weapons he cared for so deeply? "Thought you were finished with 'em."

Drax shrugged and got to his feet. "No harm done." He brushed his palm over Rocket's head in a friendly manner. "You should do it again when there aren't knives to step on."

Rocket had thought Drax would see the funny side at some point. Figured that the man would see it almost instantly. He shrugged and sat on the table, letting his legs dangle, his toes brushing past Drax's knee. "I knew you'd think it was funny."

Drax boomed out laughter. "It was _very_ funny! I was not expecting you to pounce on me. You were utterly silent."

"Years of practise." Rocket said smugly. There was probably something in his feet that he didn't know about too, but he chose not to think of that possibility and jumped as Drax tickled his sole. Despite himself, he snickered. "Hey! Knock it off, jerk!" Did the man listen? No, and Rocket dragged himself out of range to remove the target from Drax, who was now laughing his ass off. "This ain't funny, Drax! You're an asshole!"

"You laughed, too!" Drax reminded him with a grin and he walked away, his bag of knives under his arm.

* * *

"Agh!"

  _"_ _Keep still and_ quiet down."

_89P13 took in a shuddering, deep breath and held it in as the third toe was slotted into place. Tears spurted down his face and he let them. Finally the fourth one was put back into place. Finally, all eight toes had finally been put back where they all belonged and he lowered his head, trying to keep in the screams he'd been forced to hide._

_Gax used the cell generator he had used to help fix the hurt he'd bestowed on 89P13 to force his jaw up. "Good boy." It wasn't praise. It was encouragement to hide the agony he was currently in._

_"It still hurts." 89P13 said, through gritted teeth._

_"It won't hurt for much longer. You know that."_

_It would hurt for several hours more. Then the pain would begin to diminish, which would be something at least. 89P13 used his palms to brush away the water clinging to the fur on his cheeks. He was about to lick his hands to clean them of the salt, but then caught his creator's eye and wiped them on his chest instead. No need to annoy Gax any further. He could see the time on the white raised tile that had been bolted into the wall. "It's mealtime."_

_"So it is." Gax pointed to the faucet. "Wash your hands and you can have your food."_

_89P13 debated licking his hands when Gax's back was turned. He looked at them longingly, but decided against it. Sometimes it was like his creator had eyes in the back of his head, although not always. He twisted the spigot with the cold button and cleaned them of the salt left from his tears. He knew he would be having a shower after his meal, but he washed his face too. It wasn't strictly following Gax's instructions, but keeping clean was one of The Rules. The water warmed suddenly and he flinched._

_"Warm water is better for washing with than cold water." Gax said. "Make sure to get under your jawbone."_

_Heat still worried 89P09, but he held back his fear as best he could, vigorously scrubbing away the salt with his hands. "Sorry."_

_Gax shrugged. "You won't always have access to warm water, but when you do, don't forget to use it, understand?_

_"Yes." He wouldn't. He was pretty sure his buyers wouldn't rat him out to Gax if he didn't. He sat back and was promptly grabbed under his arms and lifted against his creator's side. One of the nutrition pouches was pressed into his hands and he began sucking the paste through the nozzle. He had no idea what was actually in it, but it had always been comforting to him. His hands forced all of the food out of it and Gax had to pull it out of his hands when it was clear that no more was left. 89P13 felt better now he wasn't so hungry. His right foot cramped at the base of the largest toe and he winced, drawing his leg up. Gax ignored this act and reached for the spigot again to run more warm water and 89P13 forgot all about Rule 16 and pressed his cheek to his creator's chest, holding onto the Aakon's thin, long coat with his small fists looking for more comfort. He knew it was against The Rules, he knew he could get into trouble, but his need for comfort even outweighed his fear of Gax._

_"What are you doing?"_

_89P13 chanced a look at his creator. He didn't look angry. Maybe it would be better to admit he did wrong, rather than risk the dislocation of more bones."Sorry."_

_"You know that's against the rules." Gax said softly. "You know what happens when you break the rules." He reached for the spigot and turned the water from warm to hot. Not hot enough to really hurt and burn 89P13 as it had, once, when he'd tried to steal a grape from his creator's pocket. But definitely too hot to be comfortable._

_89P13 felt the air constrict in his lungs. "Gax..."_

_Gax pointed at the basin. "It's shower time. Get in."_

* * *

Something was bothering his heel. Rocket couldn't think what, but he leaned against the wall and bent his leg to get a good look at the bottom of his foot. There was a line across the length of his heel and, as he absently pressed it, he yelped, the sound shrill to even his own ears. Therefore, it wasn't really a surprise when people started calling his name, thinking that something bad had happened to him. "I'm fine!" he yelled back, even though he could see a trickle of blood smudged around the line. "Oh, _goddammit..."_

"What's wrong?"

Rocket put his foot down, keeping the weight off of it as best he could. "Nothin'."

"I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're lying."

Oh great. Of all the jerks, it was just his luck to be found by the one who knew he was lying every time he tried it. "I cut my foot a little." He supposed that the thick skin of his heel had so few pain receptors that the pain hadn't come through. The cut itself was at the very back of his heel, too, which had helped to stop it from being found sooner.

"It should be taken care of."

"It's fine."

Drax folded his arms across his chest. He wasn't convinced and the look on his face told Rocket that he absolutely was not backing down until something had been done.

Rocket crossed his own arms and glared up at Drax, equally determined not to give in. Silence stretched between them and it seemed to last forever until finally Drax cheated by changing his disapproving stare to one of disappointment. "Fine!" Rocket snapped. "I'll fuckin' take care of it!" Turning on his (uninjured) heel, he found his way to the main bathroom and looked in the unit under the basin for the medbox kept for small emergencies. "You're a huge pain in the ass." he muttered, even though he knew Drax wasn't around to hear him. He swabbed over the scratch with an antibacterial wipe and applied a sticking plaster over it. It would only fall off at some point, but if it got Drax to stop panicking over him like a little old woman, it was worth it.

There was a knock on the door and Drax poked his head in. "Do you want assistance?"

"Nope, I'm all done. Happy now?"

"Yes." Drax said and he obligingly stayed still when Rocket jumped on him to get to his shoulder. "I have seen people brought close to death from small wounds," he said. "I would rather that did not happen with you."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Rocket asked as Drax started moving. He guessed that the man was heading toward his own cabin, but it didn't really bother him. If he was lucky, maybe he would be asked if he wanted his fur brushed. The answer, as always, would be a yes.

Drax huffed in quiet amusement. "Because I know you would have become even more stubborn."

"Never used to be stubborn until I met you." Rocket retorted as the doors slid apart to allow them access. "I learned it all from you."

Drax shook his head and sat on his bed, one leg folded underneath the other's knee. Rocket stepped onto his thigh with his unharmed foot and flinched. Now he knew about the cut, he was becoming more aware of its existence. Drax's enormous palm settled between his shoulders and Rocket absently pressed his cheek against the man's shoulder before realising what he was doing. He tensed, but all Drax did was pull him a little closer and stroke between his ears. For him, this was allowed. _This was allowed._ "It will get better soon." Drax promised.

"Yeah." Rocket agreed. "I know."

 

 


	3. Rule 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Grootiez - sorry I had to miss out the other two rules you chose! They wouldn't fit, even though I wanted them to.

**18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.**

_89P13 was curled up in the corner of his cage, asleep, when a hand grabbed him by his collar and pulled him forcefully up. He awoke with a gasp for air and clawed at his throat. The pressure vanished and he found himself pressed to a chest which was much softer than the one he knew. He blinked in the dark, pressing his palms to the strange lumps._

_"Ha! It's feelin' you up, Senix!"_

_"Shh! You want Gax to hear us?" The person called Senix grabbed his hands. "Stop that or I cut them off!"_

_"Where is my creator?" 89P13 asked Senix irritably. "It's not time to wake up yet. I should be asleep. Gax will be angry when he realises you woke me up!"_

_"Don't worry about that. You'll be sleeping soon." Senix said and she pulled her coat over his head. "Stay quiet."_

_"Why?"_

_"Shh." Senix's friend whispered and 89P13 could hear his footsteps as Senix walked quickly, making sharp and sudden turns. Suddenly the coat was whipped back and 89P13 flinched at the harsh lighting. He could see a big, glass cage against the wall, filled with dark green water. Something moved inside it._

_89P13 felt something swoop inside his stomach and looked at Senix's friend anxiously. "Why am I here?"_

_"This is 19A66." Senix's friend said pleasantly. He tapped on the glass and long, slimy tentacles slapped against it. A large head poked through the water's surface, jagged teeth stretched against a thin and lipless mouth. It growled, the sound unlike anything 89P13 had ever heard before. "You're going to be its breakfast."_

_"Gax won't like this." 89P13 whispered. His entire body felt heavy as his eyes took in the sight of the large water predator. What was it? Gax had never shown him anything like this on the identification screen._

_"He already knows about this." Senix said softly._

_"Is it a test?" 89P13 asked._

_"No. You don't stand a chance against 19A66, a tiny thing like you._ Look _at you. You're still in the latter stages of infancy."_

_"I'm not. I'm a weapon." 89P13 squirmed in Senix's grasp. "Let go!"_

_Senix laughed harshly. "Some weapon!" she laughed and she dropped 89P13 into the water tank._

_Instantly, icy cold pressed around 89P13's body. He couldn't feel anything below his feet and waved his arms around, trying to find the surface. He managed to get his nose above, into the air, but something wrapped around his wrist and he was powerless as 19A66 dragged him to its hungry mouth._ 'I will die, I will die, and my creator let this happen to me.' _89P13 thought, but he had no intention of dying. He lashed out and his claws dug into rubbery flesh. Warmth filled the water and he kicked down, breaking above the surface. The creature rose up again and he bared his own teeth, as pitiful as they were in comparison. The creature lunged at him and he grabbed its head, using his claws to hook out one of its bulbous eyes before ramming his fist into the recently emptied socket. It shrieked and writhed and something white leaked out, turning the water milky green. 19A66's long, purple tentacles rose to the surface and 89P13 held onto one to keep himself afloat. Looking up, he could see the horrified expressions on Senix and her friend._

_"How..?" Senix whispered. "How?"_

_"This isn't possible." Senix's friend murmured. "This cannot be possible."_

_"That thing has cost us." Senix said coldly. "Dearly."_

_Senix's friend nodded and stepped toward the tank. He reached in, grabbed 89P13's head and forced him under. As cold water filled 89P13's lungs, he twisted and writhed and scratched, all to get himself free, but the man wouldn't be deterred. Just as 89P13 was beginning to think that he would indeed die, he could hear yelling and screaming and, with a painful-sounding crack, Senix's friend let him go. 89P13 rose weakly, trying desperately to  find the surface before he could drown. Hands, familiar hands, pulled him out and even though he was very upset with Gax for letting these awful, awful people wake him up and take him away, he had never been so glad to see him before in his life. A towel was pulled around his shaking shoulders and he rested his head against his creator's shoulder. "Gax." he croaked out. "Want to go home."_

* * *

"What are you talking about? The Ax-El1588 bomb is nowhere _near_ as powerful as the Sar-9234 bomb!"

Rocket's right ear swivelled in the direction of the conversation. He was bored, maybe a little drunk, and stuck in the formal party they had to attend as part od a thank you for a job well done. The food had been nice, but the people were downright boring...or so he had thought until the group of armourers had started their argument. He left his drink where it was standing and wandered over, biting a chunk of sweet fruit from the stick of the cocktail.

"Oh, sure!" Rocket could remember this guy's name - Salin - said, smirking. "Yeah, sure it is, Halka. The Sar-9234 can blast apart walls and the Ax-El1588 can tear apart entire buildings-"

 _"Little_ buildings with _thin_ walls! The Sar-9234 can take down thick walls made of steel!"

"A building is _far_ more impressive."

"Sorry to interrupt." Rocket said, from down by their knees. Two sets of black, whiteless eyes turned curiously in his direction. "But I made something even more powerful than both of your things combined. That thing we used to destroy the nest of Lightcrawlers near your planet's core? I made that."

Halka looked impressed. "You made that?"

"Sure did."

Salin held his hands together. Almost nervously, he asked; "Can you, ah, show us how? You're right - your bomb was much more powerful than either of ours."

Rocket scratched behind his ear. "I don't know...we're heading off pretty early tomorrow."

"Please." Salin begged. "It would be better for our planet's defences and Halka would be happy to pay for it!"

"Yeah, I- I would?"

The offer of pay was tempting, but he was wearing new clothes and they were in the middle of a party. "If I was to start assembling an explosive right here, there would be trouble."

"Oh, no. Not here. And my husband would eat me alive if I got my suit dirty after he cleaned it." Salin pulled at his sleeve uncomfortably. "To be honest, I didn't want to come to this. I'm happier in the armoury workspace. So why don't we leave this and head there instead? We have coveralls, so we can just return here later."

Rocket looked around. He was remembering, with a prickling feeling in his spine, Senix's attempts to feed him to 19A66. He regretted killing the thing now. It hadn't meant to be large or scary or hungry and had paid dearly for it. And then there was the reaction Gax had to the entire matter. He saw Quill and Mantis chatting with the General of the army, Gamora and Groot spending time with a group of children surrounding a magician and Kraglin and Drax drinking together. Kraglin seemed drunk enough that he wouldn't notice if Rocket went over to them. "I'll meet you guys there." he said. As the two vanished, he walked over to his two family members and pulled Drax's boot for attention. "They asked if I could show them something." he explained. "In their workspace."

"That sounds preferable to being here." Drax said without much jealousy. He drank back his ale and set the empty cup down. "I'm sure you're looking forward to building something maniacal, but please do not destroy any buildings."

"Would I do that?"

"Yes." Drax said bluntly and he swapped around his empty cup for Kraglin's full one.

 _'You are seven years old. You don't need permission to do whatever you want with people you don't know very well.'_ Rocket thought to himself. He'd never asked Groot, but he had never needed to. He'd never asked a prison guard or one of his many brief employers, simply because he had never thought of them as having any real authority over him. The Guardians - his family - were different. He didn't know why, they just were.

"Do you want to join them?" Drax asked.

"Yeah. Beats bein' here."

"Then why allow me to take up your time?"

 _'Because I want to know if it's okay.'_ "I'm not."

Drax looked at him for what seemed like hours and then looked up, beyond Rocket. "I think they're ready, if you are."

 _'Is it okay?'_ Rocket looked at him, searching for any disapproval, any annoyance, anything, but there was nothing there. Just calm and something like sadness. "Okay." _'It's okay. Even with no permission, it's okay. No one will be mad.'_

* * *

_"Why won't you look at me?"_

_"89P13 had been showered, dried and fed. He felt cleaner and a lot better now, but he was still very upset with Gax. "I hate you." he muttered, crossing his arms tightly around his body._

_"Excuse me?"_

_89P13 glared at his creator's knees. He hadn't looked Gax in the eyes since getting back to the room he lived in. "I hate you! You let that thing try to_ eat _me!"_

_"I did not!"_

_"You did so! Senix told me." 89P13 said, getting to his feet. "She told me that you knew!"_

_"Has it occurred to you that maybe the woman who tried to feed you to a fucking..._ thing _may not be the most reliable source of information?" Gax asked, crossing his arms. "Come on. What motive could I have for wanting you to go up against something like that at this stage in your development?"_

_"I don't know! But you weren't there to stop it!"_

_Gax sighed. He reached for 89P13's jaw, even though 89P13 swiped at his fingers._ "Look at me."

_"No!"_

"Now!"

_With extreme reluctance, 89P13 did just that. "I hate you." he repeated._

_"No, you don't. You're scared. I can see it in your eyes."_

_"I'm not." 89P13 insisted, even though he knew it was a lie and he was sure Gax knew too._

_"Of course you are. And I'm sure you were scared when you were in the tank, too."_

_89P13 swallowed. He nodded. There was no point in denying this, as much as he wanted to. "I thought I was going to die."_

_"But you didn't. You did exactly what you should have done by fighting it. You even killed it by yourself. You didn't need me to save you from that thing."_

_"Is that why you wanted me to go in with it?"_

_Gax let go of his jaw, apparently knowing now that 89P13 wouldn't try to avert his eyes again. "I didn't. Before today, I didn't think you were physically ready for combat. Senix lied to you."_

_"How do I know_ you're _not lying?"_

_"Have I ever lied to you?"_

_89P13 shook his head. "No."_

_"That's how you know."_

_89P13 remembered Senix's friend who had held him down. He shivered. "They'll come back for me." he said quietly._

_"No, they won't. I made sure of that." Gax said lightly. "You don't need to worry about them."_

_"You didn't see how angry they were because I killed their thing."_

_"You didn't see how pissed I was because I thought they'd killed mine."_

_"You thought I was dead?"_

_"Right up until you opened your eyes." Gax said. "Why did you go with them?"_

_"I didn't go with them. They took me."_

_"So why didn't you call for help?"_

_"I didn't think anyone would come."_

_"You could have fought against them. You have claws. I saw Wjal's wrist from when he held you under."_

_So Senix's friend did have a name. Wjal. "I didn't know I was in trouble."_

_Gax sighed. "When someone drags you out of bed in the middle of the night and steals you away, that's not a good sign. You're an intelligent being, how could you have thought otherwise?"_

_"That's not fair. They were bigger than me!"_

"Everything _is bigger than you! You can't use that as an excuse when you're fully mature and still tiny."_

_"I'm not tiny." 89P13 muttered._

_"And another thing," Gax went on, apparently ignoring his words. "How could you seriously stand there and accuse me, your own creator, of allowing someone to try and kill you? I can't believe how fucking easily you believed that woman's bullshit!"_

_"It sounded like something you would do!" 89P13 protested. "I mean," he faltered under the seething glare his creator bestowed upon him. "Like...like a test or something..."_

_"Unbelievable." Gax muttered. He inhaled softly and breathed out. "But when that thing tried to eat you, you did exactly what you should have done. You took out the threat and managed to keep yourself relatively unharmed. I'm pleased with that. It was good. Very good. You know what happens when you do something good, don't you?"_

_89P13's ears flicked up. "Get a reward?" But he also knew that Gax was mad with him - although he couldn't really figure out why. He held his hands together. It was impossible to predict what his creator would do, impossible to understand how his mind worked. If he was lucky, maybe the good would outride the bad. Maybe._

_"Yes. What you did, killing that thing, was so good that I'm not going to punish you for both of the things you did wrong. Just the one. Your choice."_

_The smart thing was to go for the option that seemed less offensive. That was 89P13's plan. But, first, he had a question. "Is that my reward?"_

_"Part of it. You also get a grape."_

_It really_ had _been good to kill 19A66. Technically, 89P13 was getting two rewards, just for doing one thing. "Which one was worse?"_

_Gax laughed. "I'm not telling you that. Come on, choose."_

_"Oh." That was disappointing. 89P13 thought for a while. Getting himself in danger was usually the worst of the many crimes he could commit. It made sense that Gax would come down all the harder because he'd 'allowed' Senix to steal him.  "For believing the lie."_

_Gax looked disappointed. "You knew which one to choose, yet you couldn't figure out that you were in danger."_

_"No backing out."_

_"You really have no faith in me, do you?" Gax asked, his hands pulling his belt loose. "Hands on the wall."_

* * *

 "...solder it back together and you get this. It's not as powerful as the one I made, but you can buy the parts you need from...certain places."

"You mean the black market."

"Hey, I never claimed to be a follower of rules." That had been the reason Gax had made his knees buckle with pain when he'd whipped him for breaking Rule 18. Oh, he'd given him the "choice", alright, and Rocket had been dumb enough to believe it had been a choice. But he'd known the second the beating had started what he was really getting punished for. "Try not to get caught buying 'em."

"Thanks, Rocket."

Rocket shrugged and ripped off the overall. It had been far too large, so he'd modified it hastily before pulling it on. "This was fun."

"Better than listening to the General talk about his old stories." Halka grinned. "Can't you convince your team to stick around a couple more days?"

"No. Gotta earn a livin'."

"We can pay in gratitude."

"Fuck that." Rocket pressed in the code so he could leave the room. Outside it was raining and he half-wished he'd kept the overall on for protection from the wet. "I gotta get back or they'll go without me. See you."  The rain wasn't too harsh as he walked out, but he ran anyway, wanting to get back before the others sent out a search party.

* * *

"I'm impressed that you managed to avoid combusting half of the planet." Drax said conversationally. Rocket was sitting on his armrest, Drax's hand on the back of his neck, his strong fingers rubbing away behind his ears. It was nice. The only thing that would make it more peaceful was if Gamora would stop snoring, but neither Rocket or Drax were dumb enough to wake her up.

"Full of surprises, ain't I?"

"Yes." Drax lowered his hand and Rocket briefly tensed, but the man was only rubbing his shoulders, smoothing the fur down. Little did Drax know that he was touching over the area where Gax had taken his belt to his little creation. "Did you enjoy your time away?"

"It was great. We spent the entire night making bombs and telling each other stories about our weapons. They showed me plans they had for compacted grenades and said I could use them." He had been going to anyway, but permission from the people responsible for the idea was a positive. "What about you?"

"Oh, I informed them that their gathering wasn't very interesting and returned to the ship."

"I bet they loved that."

Drax grinned. "I don't know - I didn't stay very long after that." He took his hand away, resting it on his lap. "If you don't do things with people you don't know, you will rarely get the chance to do anything."

Rocket looked away. "I do." he said. "If I didn't, you and I wouldn't be hanging out right now." He'd be with Groot instead.

"You know what it is that I meant. You never need look for approval when you wish to go away with different people." Drax hesitated and then amended;  "That isn't to say that being told about it beforehand isn't appreciated."

"I know." Rocket said, because now he did know. And now he knew, he wouldn't forget it. Rule 18 could go to hell.


	4. Rules 3, 7, 9, & 50

**3) No lying.**

**7) No animalistic sounds.**

**9) No eating without permission.**

**50) No asking for anything.**

　

_89P13 watched as the grains were poured into the tub where his food was kept. He preferred the satchet stuff, but the grains gave him more energy. He edged closer, holding out his hands hopefully. "I want grains, please."_

_The guy who was filling up the tub looked up and then saw him standing by his foot. He grunted and then ignored him, instead shaking the grains into the container._

_89P13 pulled on the stranger's pants' leg. "Please, I'm hungry!"_

_The stranger did look at him after that. His eyes softened. He looked around and then tipped some grains into his palms. "Don't tell anybody." he warned seriously. "And don't get caught."_

_89P13 shook his head and crunched the grains into mush with his teeth. He wasn't getting any bigger, but he was getting a lot tireder and much hungrier - and Gax didn't care when 89P13 told him so. "Thanks."_

_The stranger shrugged and finished filling up the tub. He cleared his throat, met 89P13's eyes and then looked pointedly at several grains left on the floor before leaving. "Be quick." he muttered before he tapped on the door to let Gax know he was leaving._

_89P13 knew better than to risk allowing Gax to see him eat when it was well after one mealtime and way before another. He also knew that it was very, very wrong - not against The Rules, but still bad - to eat off of the floor. He picked up as many of the grains as he could possibly hide in his hands and tried to look as innocent as he could when his creator came to put him back in Home for bed. One grain slipped out of his hand when Gax picked him up, but miraculously went unnoticed and 89P13 dared to hope._

_It was only when Gax was setting him inside the cage that things went wrong. The Aakon narrowed his eyes at the test subject and tapped his fingers on the bars. "What's in your hands?"_

_89P13 wished he had his hands free so he could put them over his eyes. He shuffled his little feet nervously. "Nothing."_

_"Hold them out."_

_"But, Gax-"_

_"Subject 89P13, hold out your hands or so help me, I'll_ break _them."_

_89P13 caught sight of his food dish in his peripheral vision. Making eye contact, he deposited both handfuls in the dish, brushed off any evidence onto his fur and then held out his hands, hoping that somehow, Gax hadn't noticed. "See? Nothing!"_

_Gax rested his elbows on the roof of the cage and pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead. He wasn't looking at 89P13 any longer, instead looking directly ahead, although there was nothing very interesting there. "I don't believe what you just did."_

_The risk clearly hadn't paid off, but 89P13 was in far too deep now. He had to commit to the lie. "There...there wasn't anything in my hands when I showed them to you."_

_"You could have just admitted that you had food on your person and we could have just dealt with it, but no, you just had to try and deceive me."_

_"It's not against The Rules." 89P13 reminded his creator. "At least I didn't lie!"_

_"No? And I suppose the grains just magically appeared out of nowhere and into your hands for you to try and sneak them into your dish, did they?"_

_89P13 crossed his arms over his chest. "I told you that I'm getting hungrier. I need more food."_

_"And I told you that you have enough to keep yourself alive."_

_"It doesn't feel like it."_

_"Nobody knows your needs better than I do!"_

_"I do." 89P13 muttered._

_Gax made an irritated sound and pointed at the dish. "Give me that."_

_89P13 huddled close to the dish protectively. "It's_ my _food."_

_"If I have to get it myself, it will be worse for you."_

_89P13 looked from his creator to his food dish. It was the hunger pains in his stomach that finally pushed him to cram a handful of the grains into his mouth before offering the dish to his creator. It was snatched away and to his fear, he was grabbed by his collar and yanked up. "No, no, it's my sleeping time! You can't punish me now!"_

_"I'll punish you whenever I fucking like!"_

_"Try to understand!" 89P13 begged, flinching as Gax hurled the dish into the disposal unit. "I'm hungry all the time. It's not healthy!"_

_"Hunger is a part of life."_

_"I feel weak." 89P13 whispered. It was against The Rules, but he was desperate. "Please give me more food."_

_"You've had extra food tonight." Gax said coldly. He reached for the handle of a drawer which 89P13 knew too well and brought out something that filled the test subject with dread. "If you need something in your mouth so badly, you can have the metal barbs in there until your next evening mealtime comes around."_

_89P13 shook his head, clamping his jaws shut. Gax didn't say anything, simply made him hang his head over the basin. Then he pinched around 89P13's nose until he finally opened his mouth to breathe. Suddenly, the tasteless smooth texture of the thick rubber gloves his creator wore filled his mouth and he gagged as Gax's finger rammed down his throat. Warm liquid shot out from his mouth, splattering the sink with partially digested food and he retched until everything he had eaten was gone from his system. He knew what this meant. The emptiness would be even worse. _"Gax, no...no..."__

_"Shh." Gax murmured and he slipped the metal piece into 89P13's mouth. "I see you managed to sneak some food from the deliverer." The straps of the muzzle were pulled uncomfortably tightly around 89P13's head and he shrieked as a bolt of electric tore through his body, sparks flying from the muzzle he had been forced to wear. "Let's hope this_ at least  _teaches you to never eat between mealtimes again." Another zap, another cry. "Never lie to me again." The third and final zap made 89P13 lie entirely still, his entire body throbbing in pain. "And never ask for anything again."_

_89P13 couldn't help it. He whined, the noise soft, sad and agonised. And yet again, he was zapped._

* * *

Rocket was starving. Not literally, at least, but enough to bring back some uncomfortable memories. _'Go and get something to eat, you moron, they won't buckle you in a muzzle and send lightning through you,'_ he thought to himself, but Gavaar's lesson had been well "taught" and he couldn't bring himself to sneak to the kitchen and find a snack.

There was always water, though. As long as it was in his cage, put there by Gax, he was free to drink it. Food had been different because of the mealtimes, but water was always okay. He could just drink water to fill his stomach until it was time for breakfast. It would make him need to pee nearly all night, but there was no other way around it. He padded down the hallways until his nose very suddenly informed him that there was a sweet, warm smell from his destination. His mouth watered and he wondered who it was, cooking at this time of night. It was well past supper and way before breakfast. Maybe it was a weird Terran thing, Rocket thought as he entered the kitchen. It transpired that the reason for the sweet smell was not at all earthly. It was Draxian in nature. There he stood, in the funny apron with a Kylorian woman's glistening body on it, a rolling pin in one hand and the large oven on full heat. The dishwasher made a loud chugging noise and it was only when Rocket yelled his name that Drax noticed him. He smiled. "You have good timing. They should be done soon."

"What should be done soon?" Whatever it was, he wanted it. He could smell spices, the one that tasted like something Quill called cinnamon. But it wasn't time for food yet. He would wait.

"My mother's recipe. Spicebread." Drax lightly pushed him out of harm's way and opened the oven door. The smell was so beautiful that Rocket had to stop himself from climbing into the oven. "It goes well with this." he said, pointing at one of the large tubs of ice-cream Quill had insisted on buying.

Rocket looked at the clock. Five hours until Gamora would get up and he could have breakfast with her, he could wait that long...He blinked as a bowl was pressed into his hands, pleasantly warm, and looked at Drax uncertainly. "It's...it's not mornin' yet."

"What of it?" Drax asked and Rocket noticed that he had his own bowl. "When your body tells you it needs food, you need to listen to it."

Rocket looked at his bowl. He looked at Drax and shakily stepped after him to the table. Even in prisons, if the night meal was too early or the morning meal too late, he had chosen to go without. The guards didn't care and Groot would simply and gladly give him his leaves when he did want to eat, so it hadn't been a problem. Now it was because if he was hungry and wasn't eating despite it, it was suddenly a huge issue. People wanted him to eat regularly. It was fucking weird. He dug his spoon into the soft spicebread and pressed a spoonful into his mouth. Almost instantly, he remembered his creator forcing him to throw up everything he'd eaten. His body balked, but the strong ginger taste calmed it and soon he'd finished the entire bowl, stopping short of licking it clean. "This spicebread is good."

"Thank you." Drax let him collect their bowls and rolled his eyes amusedly when Rocket used the basin to wash them, rather than the dishwasher. "For someone who enjoys his gadgets, you are very primitive when it comes to washing things." he said as he wiped down the surfaces.

"Missed a spot." Rocket said and he scooped up a handful of bubbles and threw them at Drax's shoulder.

"This is what I receive for being truthful about your odd behaviour." Drax grumbled as he used the flat of his large hand to wipe them away.

"That's what you get for calling me primitive, you ass!"

"It was a compliment." Drax protested.

"Sure it was." Job done, he looked up at Drax quizzically. He knew he could ask. He knew. "Will you...uh.." he mimed brushing over his arms, feeling his ears flatten.

Drax looked confused. "Will I what?"

Rocket looked down, unable to meet the man's eyes. Logically he knew he could ask, but there was still a part of him which feared the worst for daring to ask for something, even if it was harmless. "Willyoubrushmyfur."

Somehow, Drax understood the rushed words. "Yes." he said as if it was no problem at all, and he started walking off, apparently expecting Rocket to blindly follow him.

Slowly, Rocket did follow him, wondering how long Drax might give him. It was late, after all, and Drax liked his sleep. Maybe Rocket would only get a couple minutes and then be ordered out. Maybe Drax would even change his mind. Rocket couldn't exactly blame him if he did, he was effectively using Drax for grooming purposes which was probably an offence to a warrior's honour on Drax's homeworld. Regardless, he climbed onto the thick, soft blankets Drax slept on and kept close to the edge of the bed, just in case. In case of what, he didn't know, but if he had to make an escape, he wanted it to be quick and painless. The brushing started on the back of his head this time and he closed his eyes in contentment. Something rumbled deep inside and he thought that it was the late night eating to blame, but it was just the purring that had come back. Instinctively, he tried to hide it, using the favoured method of holding his breath, but it didn't work.

_But it didn't have to work._

Purring was normal for him, it was okay, it was allowed. Asking for his fur to be brushed was allowed. And eating when he wanted to, rather than when the schedule allowed it, was definitely allowed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for you, Woozle.


	5. Rules 3, 4 & 26

**3) No lying.**

**4) No stealing.**

**26) No refusal of punishment.**

 

_"What's this?" 89P13 asked, pointing at the large silver cylinder that stood on the desk holding the (recently repaired) monitor his creator used. The cylinder in question was a little bigger than he was and there were things that rattled when he shook it._

_"It's mine, so leave it alone."_

_"What's in it?"_

_"Some kind of grain. I'm meant to add water and heat it up to make it edible."_

_89P13 looked at the cylinder with new interest. Grains were in there? It struck him as strange that his creator ate grains, like he did, but that was the least of his concerns. "Is it heavy?"_

_"No heavier than you are."_

_89P13 had an idea. If he could get it out of his creator's sight, maybe he could open it and have some of the grains. He was tiny and Gax was tall, so he figured that the Aakon wouldn't notice one or two missing. He grabbed the cylinder around its middle and let it slip through his arms, arcing through the air to land some distance away on the floor._

_"Hey! What the hell did you do that for? I don't throw your food around!"_

_"I wanted to see if I could pick it up." 89P13 said, hoping that his creator would buy it._

_Gax did. "So you felt like throwing it long-distance, too?"_

_"That was an accident." 89P13 insisted. "It slipped."_

_Gax grabbed his ear and pulled him closer. "The next time you do something as ridiculous as this, I will make you bleed. Understand?"_

_89P13 nodded and, remembering Rule 35, said; "Yes!"_

_"Good." Gax let go of his ear and took his arm instead, lowering him to the floor. "Retrieve that." he ordered and, aiming a warning slap to the back of his creation's leg, he returned his attention to the monitor._

_89P13 rubbed his leg to soothe the sting and padded to the cylinder. The trick was to open it and he soon found a ring pull which wrenched open the top of the cylinder. Strange smells came out. Pleasant smells with heat and savour that he could almost taste. He reached in his arm, but couldn't find any grains. Lying down on his front, he peered inside the cylinder to see if he could locate the grains, but all he could see was dark. He edged forward, finding that he could fit his head into the cylinder. Encouraged, he wriggled his entire torso in until his nose bumped into a pile of grains. He flicked out his tongue and caught some of the grains. They tasted hot and slightly powdery. They weren't nasty, but he decided that he liked his own grains better than his creator's and began wriggling backwards. Strange. He wasn't getting out. He used the claws on his feet to dig into the floor and struggled, but he had no luck. He was stuck._ 'How will I explain this to Gax?' _he wondered._

 _"What's taking you so lo-_ what the hell?"

_89P13 knew very well that what he was doing was bad. He also knew that his feet would be the prime target for punishment in this position, so he rolled onto his back (finding it much easier now he was trapped inside a cylinder) and bent his legs so he could tuck his feet under his backside._

_"You planned this, didn't you?" Gax demanded. "Answer me!"_

_"No! The can opened and..and it sucked me in!"_

_"Subject 89P13, if you don't tell me the truth, I'll pick you up by your tail and swing you around in circles until the can flies away!"_

_"You can't do that! My tail will fall off!"_

_"I'll just solder it back on."_

_"No, no!" 89P13 tried his best to hide his tail underneath his thighs to protect it. "I wanted some of the grains!"_

_"And you decided to put your_ entire _head in the can?!"_

_"I couldn't reach them!"_

_"You're unbelievable! I only brought that in here because one of the others was eyeing it, and what happens? My own creation tries to eat it all!"_

_"I only wanted a little bit!"_

_"If it wasn't for the fact that you'd suffocate in there, I'd leave you in it overnight to teach you a lesson."_

_"I've already learned my lesson!"_

_"And what is that?"_

_"Don't go inside cylinders because you will get stuck." 89P13 wriggled. "Gax, it's getting hard to breathe in here..."_

_"What about the 'don't steal' rule?"_

_"Gax, please, just get me out of here before I die!"_

_"I could always resuscitate you."_

"GAX!"

_"I was joking."_

_"I hope you get stuck in a cylinder, you big yellow-."_

_"Don't be vindictive. Let's see..." Gax must have picked it up because 89P13 felt himself slide downwards just a fraction. The Aakon shook the cylinder up and down. He tried to get his fingers underneath the sides of the cylinder to remove it. He smacked at the top of it like he was trying to kill it for imprisoning 89P13, but it wouldn't budge. "Our problem is that you're completely stuck and I don't know where your head is, so I can't just cut it open without giving you a very serious injury."_

_"I don't care. I want to get out."_

_"I'm going to x-ray the can and find out where your head is and then I'll cut the top off and get you out." Gax kept him upside down and started walking with him, out of the door, taking a route 89P13 knew all too well. "Don't panic. I'm not going to do any surgery, I'm only going to remove the can with the tools. That's all I'm going to do with them."_

_"Promise me."_

_"I promise." Gax said and because he'd never broken a promise, good or bad, 89P13 relaxed a little bit. "You need to conserve your air, so don't speak and take shallow, slow breaths."_

_89P13 didn't say anything, but shivered when he felt the familiar cold of the operating table under his feet. Even though Gax had told him how to breathe to save his precious air, his body couldn't obey. The worst part was how dark it was inside the cylinder. There was nothing that he could see and the smell of the grains was uncomfortably pressing._

_"Found your head." Gax said and the buzzing of the saw started up to 89P13's distress. "Don't scream! I'm not going to cut you with it."_

_89P13's chest tightened. He felt his hands pulse and his breathing grew even more frantic, even when the top slid off and he had access to air again. Even though he had air, none seemed to go in and he gasped desperately._

_"In through your nose." Gax said and when 89P13 sniffed sharply, he nodded. "Out through your mouth. Slower than that."_

_The tingling in his hands slowly stopped and the tightness in his chest disappeared. He still gulped in the air, but it was no longer impossible to breathe. "Didn't...mean..to...breathe...quickly."_

_"You had a panic attack. It happens. Next time it does, remember what I told you to do."_

_89P13 nodded. "Please...out."_

_Gax found the scissors he often used when cutting through tendons and slowly cut away the cylinder. He did catch 89P13's skin several times, but 89P13 knew it could easily be worse than just a few scratches. The cylinder opened and he was finally free. "Why can there never be a dull moment with you?"_

_"Don't...know." 89P13 wanted to get out of the surgery room. He got to his knees and pulled Gax's sleeve, holding out his arms. "Can we...go back now?"_

_"You won't be for a while. On your front."_

_"Gax, please..."_

_"Don't make me position you myself."_

_He didn't want to, but he knew it would be worse for him if he didn't. He kept his arms close to his side as he lay on his chest, but Gax took his right and attached the table restraints to his wrist. The glowing white circle of the cuff shrank instantly around 89P13's wrist and his left arm was also trapped. The same happened to his legs, keeping him in one place. He moved his legs and found that he was able to kick, a rare luxury when shackled to the table._

_"I'd prefer it if you didn't have another panic attack, so I've been lenient and given you some freedom to move."_

_"Oh. Thanks." 89P13 kicked his legs again._

_Gax caught his right foot and held his thumb over 89P13's toes, keeping them in place and the foot immobilised. Something long and thin tapped against the sole and 89P13 yelped when a hard line burned across it. Another tap and then another hit, just below the first strike. He whimpered when the tazerstick tapped his foot for the third time and then struck against his heel. Gax released his foot and, taking the left one, repeated the strikes. "You have more of the same coming when I return."_

_"You can't!" 89P13 insisted. His soles ached from the beating and more was unthinkable._

_"What do you mean I can't? Of course I can."_

_"You're not allowed!"_

_There was just enough silence for 89P13 to realise that he'd made a mistake. "It is not up to you whether you get punished or not."_

_"It should be." The tazerstick whipped against the back of his legs and he yelled out. "Gax, stop!"_

_"You do not say 'no' when I punish you!"_

_"Stop hitting me! It hurts!"_

_"Good!" Gax struck across both soles again and pressed the button to slightly tighten the chains' hold on 89P13. "You've doubled the beating you were going to get by being so defiant. I'll be back in an hour."_

* * *

Rocket was hungry. Not starving, but hungry enough that black circles momentarily appeared in his eyes. Just because he knew that he was 'allowed' to eat between mealtimes didn't mean he always obeyed his body when it told him that it needed food. He just wanted to grab something and eat it quickly, maybe even take it back into his workspace so he could snack while he made something, but one look into the kitchen told him that the counters were far too full for him to climb onto in order to reach the fruit bowl. He kept out of the way of Kraglin's feet and looked through the cupboard where the stashes were kept. There was the generic 'everyone' food, like jerkies, protein bars and fruit jelly pots, but his eyes went straight down to the zarg nuts from Drax's homeworld. He preferred his Cotaci berries to anything else onboard, but they were out of reach. Zarg nuts were a close second favourite. They tasted like something called 'almonds' from Terra, according to Quill, and were much sweeter than the berries Rocket liked. He reached for the silver packet and took it out, looking at the remaining pouches. There would be two left if he took the one he held in his hand, but that was not what worried him. His soles ached in warning, but he forced out the memory of the beating he had received all those years ago when he had gotten himself stuck inside Gavaar's tube of grains and went away with the packet, meaning to eat the zarg nuts in his workspace.

He couldn't wait to eat them. His hands ripped open the silver foil before he even got to his workspace, some flittering onto the floor, but he didn't think to pick it up like he normally would. He dug out a handful of the nuts and, hearing Drax's heavy footsteps, darted into his workspace. In the privacy of his own space, he gave up all attempts at propriety and decent manners and tipped the packet into his mouth until it was empty. Sweetness filled his mouth and he barely stopped to chew, closing his eyes. Damn, if Drax didn't have good taste. Licking around his mouth, he started organising the drawers. Reorganising them, really. He kept changing his mind about which parts should go where or what parts would come in most useful. Today it was screws, nuts, bolts and nails in the top drawer, tools in the second drawer, wires in the third and metal sheets in the fourth.

"Rocket? Can I come in?"

"I don't know, can you?"

It turned out that Drax could. In his hand, he held one of the little bowls Groot often ate from. Inside were Cotaci berries. "Kraglin has invaded the kitchen and I thought you might find it difficult to reach your berries."

They would taste even more bitter after the zarg nuts, but Rocket wasn't dumb enough to refuse food, even shortly after eating a (stolen) snack. "Yeah, I couldn't get up there. That guy needs to learn how to clean up as he cooks."

"Mmm. May I stay here?"

"Knock yourself out."

"I would rather not do that."

"Damn. I was hoping for some free entertainment." Rocket offered him some of the berries, remembering with a slight pang of guilt, that Drax was now down to only two packets of his favoured snack, whereas Rocket knew he still had another box of berries somewhere.

Drax shook his head, dropping into a crouch. "I find them despicable. Besides, I have my zarg nuts."

Rocket focused on the berries, trying to keep his ears from lowering in guilt and giving away the truth. He finished the berries and put the bowl onto his workspace, realising with a slight jolt of horror, that the crumpled zarg nut packet was lying on there already. Had Drax seen? He couldn't tell. Drax didn't always have a readable face.

"Do you know something strange, Rocket?" Drax asked calmly.

"Oh, I know lots of strange things. I even live with some. What strange thing do you mean?"

"You see, I had three packets of the zarg nuts and somehow they have dwindled to exactly two."

"Huh. That's weird." How was he going to remove the packet without Drax seeing? Dammit. This was the last time he was listening to his stomach.

"Yes. I asked everyone if they knew why the third packet disappeared and they all claimed to have not seen anything. And then I found this." Drax held up a sliver of silver, part of the packet that Rocket had discarded. "And I see that the part it came from is lying forgotten on your workspace."

Oh, crap. He was caught. "This is circumstantial!" he protested. Drax gave him one of those horrible, disappointed looks. "Aw, dammit! It's Kraglin's fault for not stopping me!" The look he got from Drax was even worse and he groaned, putting his hands over his eyes, shaking his head. "I didn't mean to."

"Everyone steals my zarg nuts." Drax said. "I have a small supply in a secret location, so it isn't an issue if the one in the kitchen gets low."

"You do? Where?"

"I'm not telling you! You'd sell it out."

Rocket opened his mouth to defend himself and quickly realised that there wasn't really much point. He probably would do that, out of annoyance or something stupid. "Sorry."

"I'm not upset that you took my zarg nuts, I only wish that you tell me about it if you do."

"If there's a next time-" There would be a next time because zarg nuts were fucking delicious. "-I'll tell you, okay?"

"Thank you." Drax touched behind Rocket's ears and smiled when he voluntarily came closer. He shifted until he was kneeling and rubbed between his ears gently. How hands that could easily crush a Kree skull could be so careful, Rocket would never know. "However, I'm unhappy that you chose to lie."

Rocket wasn't really paying any attention. "Uh huh." He sat with his back against Drax's thighs and relaxed, feeling at ease and peaceful.

"I know that you know it is wrong to lie."

"Mmm." Rocket turned his head and pressed into Drax's palm, not really knowing what the man was telling him. It couldn't have been anything bad, not when he was being gentle, right?

"I think we should do something about this, don't you?"

"Yeah, I - wait, what?" Before Rocket had any time to panic, a large, muscled grey arm shot over his shoulder and fingers scrabbled at his sides. The great bald moron was tickling him. "Aah! Drax! Ahahaha! Knock it off, you idiot!"

"Why?"

"Hahaha! Why the hell do you think? Drax! I swear to God! I'll put superglue on the toilet seat! Drax!" Rocket kicked at the floor with the flat of his feet, making them smart. The movement propelled him upwards and he toppled against the man's knees. His feet stung and he drew them up, accessing the non-existent damage with his hands. It was his own fault. He brought them to Drax's attention. The tickling stopped and he could see that Drax was concerned and wasn't going to tickle him again, but he yelped like a common dog, rolled onto the floor and skittered around the workbench to hide in the alcove beneath.

* * *

_The chains pulled harshly at 89P13's arms and he panted heavily. "Gax, don't beat me, please, don't beat me..."_

_"Shh. I'm doing this for_ you."

_"But I don't want you to!"_

_"I give you what you need, not what you want. And you need to be punished."_

_"But I was." 89P13 squirmed as Gax put the tazerstick across the small of his back. "Please, I'm sorry I stole the grains and... And I'm sorry I tried to lie... I won't do it again, I promise. Gax, please don't do this!"_

_Gax picked up his foot, bending back the toes until they almost hurt. "What was it that you told me earlier, 89P13?"_

_"When?" 89P13 wished he could take his foot out of Gax's hand. He wished he'd never even seen the cylinder._

_"Before I left you in here."_

_89P13 swallowed nervously. "I said you couldn't punish me."_

_"That's right. You looked me in the eyes after I was nice enough to allow you to move around and you said 'you're not allowed to punish me'."_

_"It was a mistake! I panicked!"_

_"So I am allowed to punish you?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"That's nice to hear." Gax said mildly. He tapped against the lightly bruised sole of 89P13's foot, making his little test subject shiver. "Do you need me to punish you?"_

_"Yes." 89P13 whispered, because it was the only answer that he could give._

_"Say it."_

_Any other situation and 89P13 would have insistently refused. But not when he had an Aakon who was ready, willing and able to beat his feet into shreds at any moment. "I need you to punish me."_

_"When you feel like it or when I do?"_

_89P13 let tears fall. They pooled into flat discs on the cold grey surface of the table. "When you do."_

_"Clever boy." Gax reached for the tazerstick and pressed it against the middle of 89P13's sole. "What did I tell you before I sent you to retrieve the grains can?"_

_89P13 knew what Gax meant. Sobs choked him and he coughed out; "Said you'd make me bleed."_

_Gax made a 'tut' sound. "I only said I would make you bleed if you did any more ridiculous things. If you'd just brought back the can instead of trying to steal the grains, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. But we are."_

_89P13 barely suppressed an anxious yelp as the tazerstick moved up to his heel. "Please don't! I - OW!" Blood throbbed hotly around the new line with only a thin barrier of skin keeping it inside his body and 89P13 realised very quickly that the strikes he'd received before Gax had left him had been relatively light. The second strike split open his skin and he shrieked, digging the claws on his hands into the table. It wasn't the first time he'd been beaten on the soles of his feet, but it was by far the most severe beating he'd received. Strikes lashed down until the foot was soaked in 89P13's own blood. When his creator reached for the other foot, letting the hurt one fall with a thump onto the table, 89P13 whimpered. "Stop."_

_Gax paused. He put the tazerstick down, to 89P13's relief. Then, without warning, he grabbed the largest toe and popped it out of its socket, making his little creation scream like he was dying. Paying no attention to the pained noises, he dislocated the toe on the bleeding foot and freed 89P13, who didn't even notice that he was no longer bound. "Enough of that. You need to go back home."_

_89P13 struggled, but managed to stop the tears from appearing in his eyes. He expected to be taken back to the room with his cage in it. What happened instead was that Gax put him on the floor and pointed at the door in an expectant manner. He sniffed and looked at his creator. "Can't."_

_"You can. Get up."_

_"Gax, I can't!"_

_"You will. Up."_

_It would hurt. It would take a long time to get to the door. But somehow 89P13 managed to stand. And, slowly, walked with dislocated toes and soles covered in blood, leaving tiny red footprints behind him._

* * *

Idiot. Fucking idiot, freaking out like that. Despite cursing himself out, he didn't dare to so much as stretch out his legs, even though he was cramping like hell where he was coiled. He didn't know where Drax was and wondered how the hell he was going to look the man in the eyes again. 'Embarrassed' didn't begin to cover it.

"I didn't mean to cause any harm. Won't you come out?"

"I'm fine." A little fucked up, but fine. He had to come out. He couldn't hide forever. He poked an arm out and dragged himself into the open space. He hadn't hidden away like that since he'd been in the lab.

"I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault." _'It was mine. It was always mine.'_ "Never could keep my hands to myself."

Drax frowned, but he didn't come any closer. Maybe he knew better. "I wasn't angry. I never meant for you to think that I was."

"I didn't!"

"Then why did you hide?"

"I didn't hide!" Worse than that, he'd ran away on all fours, no less, and hid. If he'd tried that the day he'd stolen his creator's food, he doubted that he would be able to walk without flinching now.

"Did he hurt your feet?"

Rocket flinched, his shoulders tensing over. "So what if he did? He ain't here to do it again, is he?"

Drax lay his palm flat on the floor. "It's a pity that he died before I got to kill him."

"How was I supposed to know I'd find a lunatic like you?" Rocket muttered, but he edged closer. Not much. But close enough that Drax could reach him if he really tried. "Yeah." he said quietly, after a period of silence. "Hurt my feet pretty bad and had me walk on 'em. Wasn't the first time...or the last." He could still feel the stickiness of the blood against his soles as he had painstakingly walked over to the door. "He had a can of mulch - you know, that stuff you add water to and blast in the microwave? He told me that there were grains in there and I wanted some. So I got it away from him and got myself stuck in the tube while trying to get the grains." He wrinkled his nose a little at the memory. "They tasted like crap."

"He beat you while you were stuck in there?"

"Oh, no. He got me out way before he beat me." Not that it helped any, judging by the look on Drax's face. "It was my own stupid fault for trying to steal from him. I knew the score."

"As soon as he raised a hand to you, it was him in the wrong."

"Yeah." Rocket said softly, because it was true, if he had stolen from his creator or not. "I know." He could see grey fingers in his peripheral vision and flinched. Drax stopped and he inhaled deeply before edging closer, sitting at his side again. "It's okay." He closed his eyes, forcing himself to keep still at the light contact. He breathed out when nothing painful came of it and lay his head against Drax's leg. "I'm okay."

* * *

_89P13 pushed himself back as Gax reached in for him. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't help disturbing his injured toes. "Ow!"_

_"If you kept still, it wouldn't hurt so much!"_

_"If you hadn't dislocated my toes, it wouldn't hurt so much!"_

_"Do you want another beating?"_

_"No!"_

_"Do you want them set back into place?"_

_89P13 reluctantly nodded his head. Painful as resetting was, it was a much better option than lying awake all night, thinking of how sore his feet were. "Yes."_

_"Then, for once in your life, do as you're fucking told. Arms up!"_

_His toes hurt even more while unsupported and he gritted his teeth until they were slotted back into their intended places. He lightly flexed them, wincing at the twinges of pain that accompanied the movement. He could smell something sharp and scrunched his nose up._

_"Don't pull faces." Gax said and he sat down, holding his little test subject sideways. "I know you don't like this, but it's got to be done."_

_'This' referred to the painful antibacterial spray. 89P13 grabbed onto Gax's arm and held tightly, to the point he could feel the Aakon's bones underneath his grip._

_"I haven't even put it on your wounds yet. Let go of my arm." Gax prised 89P13's fingers from his sleeve and set him on his thigh. "Hold your worst foot out."_

_89P13 looked into the hazel eyes of his creator worriedly. "You'll hurt me again."_

_"No, I won't. Not today at least. Foot up."_

_89P13 extended his leg to rest on Gax's other knee. He knew the drill. Blood would be washed off, the foot would be dried, the nasty antibacterial spray would be applied and maybe, if Gax felt like being merciful, he would use the cell wand to quickly heal it all. He watched the rusty red-orange of his blood sully the white of the warm cloths and flinched when his sole was roughly patted dry. "Do you have to use that stuff?" he asked as Gax picked up the dreaded spray._

_"Yes. It'll stop any infection."_

_What would have stopped an infection even better was if Gax hadn't beaten him until blood had flowed freely, but 89P13 knew better than to tell him that. He shrieked, unable to help himself, at the agonising sting of the spray and grabbed tightly onto Gax's fingers, trying hard to catch his breath and blink away his tears. "You were bad, too." he mumbled. "You said you'd break my tail."_

_"You're right. I shouldn't have said that. Even though I'm positive I could solder it back on..."_

_"Gax!"_

_"Don't 'Gax!' me! It did the trick, didn't it? You were much more willing to tell me the truth after that."_

_"You would be, too, if you had a tail and your creator said he was going to pick you up by it and-"_

_"Shh." Gax pinched his ear and twisted it around, more to gain his attention than to punish. "If it stops your whining, I promise that I will not threaten your tail again. Are you happy now?"_

_89P13 shrugged. He knew better than to ask or even hope for an apology from his creator._

_Gax sighed and took hold of his jaw. "You knew better than to steal. And you knew better than to lie. You know better. Out there, in the real world, they will kill you for less. You're in pain, but at least you're alive. I punished you for your own benefit."_

_"It's easy for you to say." 89P13 had never seen anyone argue with his creator. He had never seen anyone put up a fight against Gax. It was like no one dared. "No one can ever hurt you. I bet nobody ever has."_

_Gax appeared like he was about to say something, but stopped himself. He closed his eyes and, when he opened them, he no longer looked 89P13 in his eyes. He released his test subject's jaw and then glared into his eyes. "Do not_ ever _steal or lie or give me an order again. Do you understand me?"_

_89P13 couldn't figure out what was wrong with Gax. He loosened his hold on his creator's fingers. "Yeah. Sorry."_

* * *

Just over six years later and Rocket now understood why Gavaar had looked so distant when Rocket had assumed that no one had ever hurt him. Holy shit, what a thing to say to a slave. Gavaar had probably learned firsthand how to dislocate bones from the Kree themselves. He sighed and leaned his head into Drax's hand. "He didn't have the right to hurt me," he whispered. "Right?"

Drax nodded, stroking between his ears. "That's right. He was of the Aakon people. He would have been raised knowing better. And he did know better or you would not be here now."

"Bastard's messin' with my head."

"Rocket," Drax said softly. "He had no love for you. The best that can be said is that he held hatred for the Kree which overpowered his desire for freedom." the man petted his ears again, gently, and said; "I'm sorry."

"The fucked part is, what you said actually helps." Rocket admitted.

"Is that a good thing?"

Rocket nodded, closing his eyes. "Yeah." he said truthfully. "It is." 


	6. Rules 20, 24 & 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two men have very different views on how Rocket should be dealt with when sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For you, grootiez!

  **THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
~~**2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.** ~~  
~~**3) No lying.** ~~  
~~**4) No stealing.** ~~  
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**  
**6) No drinking shower water.**  
~~**7) No animalistic sounds.** ~~  
**8) No animalistic posturing.**  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
~~**11) No digging through walls.** ~~  
~~**12) No mentioning the brush.** ~~  
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**15) No rudeness.**  
~~**16) No cuddling.** ~~  
**17) No being difficult.**  
~~**18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.** ~~  
**19) No escape attempts.**  
~~**20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.** ~~  
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
**23) No wandering off.**  
~~**24) No refusal of medicine.** ~~  
**25) Never mention the prototypes.**  
**26) No refusal of punishment.**  
**27) No hiding.**  
~~**28) No playing.**~~  
**29) No arguing.**  
**30) No secrets.**  
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
~~**37) No complaining about surgeries.** ~~  
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
**42) No begging.**  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
**44) No lock picking.**  
**45) No taking objects into Home.**  
**46) No backchat.**  
**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  
**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
**50) No asking for anything.**

 

_89P13 didn't feel right. He always felt the same after a surgery. Sore, disoriented, sometimes even nauseous. The worst thing was when he had a headache and Gax decided that shining a bright light into his eyes would help. It didn't. But there was no use in telling his creator that._

_"Stop whimpering. You sound like a dog."_

_"Stop whining. You're acting like a bitch."_

_"Hey!" Gax twisted his little test subject's ear painfully. "Watch your tongue or it bleeds."_

_89P13 batted his creator's fingers weakly and coughed. Pain rippled through his head and he groaned. "You have no idea how this feels."_

_"You screamed like a little girl throughout the entire procedure, so I have some idea."_

_"You really don't."_

_"You passed out a few times, so at least you had some time out of it."_

_"Gax, I swear to God, you are the worst creator-"_

_"I could be worse and, unless you want me to be, I suggest you stop complaining."_

_89P13 sincerely doubted that anyone was worse than Gax, but the Aakon was good for his word, if nothing else. He settled for glaring at him and flinched as he was set on his cage roof. He rubbed his forehead and turned away when Gax reached for him. "I'm fine!"_

_"Then why are you flinching?"_

_89P13 gestured to the new scarring over the shorn area on his forehead._

_"What did I just say to you about-"_

_"I'm not complaining! What is this, your time of month or something?"_

_"Where did you even learn that?"_

_"You said it to that Kylorian guy."_

_Gax cleared his throat. "Ah. You shouldn't repeat things like that."_

_"Why? What does it mean?"_

_"I'll tell you later. You need to rest and keep still for a couple of hours."_

_89P13 curled up at another wave of pain. He grabbed his head with both hands, resting his forehead on his knees._

_"Alright, that's enough of this." Gax pulled his arms away and forced his jaw up. "What's wrong?"_

_"Nothin'!"_

_"Fine, I'll saw your skull open again, if I have to-"_

_89P13 panicked. "No! I have a headache, okay? Don't cut me open again!"_

_"A headache after brain surgery and you don't think to tell me?"_

_"I didn't want to tell you."_

_"For the love of... You could have something serious and you decide to keep it to yourself rather than tell the one person who knows your body inside out?"_

_"That's_ why _I didn't want to tell you."_

_Through gritted teeth, Gax asked; "What else is there?"_

_"That's it. Seriously." At Gax's disbelieving look, 89P13 rolled his eyes. "You already know I have a headache. Why would I bother keeping anything else a secret now?"_

_89P13 was telling the truth and Gax seemed to understand that because he nodded. "You didn't hit your head while you were screaming, did you?"_

_"No. It's just a normal headache."_

_"Excuse me, 'normal'? How often do you get headaches?" Gax scowled when 89P13 remained silent._ "Answer me!"

_"I don't know! I don't keep track! That's your job!"_

_"What did you just say-?"_

_"I don't get headaches that much." 89P13 interrupted before his creator could go off on a rant. "And they don't hurt that bad."_

_Unfortunately, nothing was stopping his creator. "How the_ hell _do you expect me to keep track of something that I don't know exists?! I want to know if you feel anything out of the ordinary and you know exactly how important it is that you tell me if there's anything going on with your body that I'm not aware of-"_

 _"If you know my body inside out, how_ can _there be anything you don't know about it?" 89P13 muttered._

_Gax glared at him. "I'm shutting the lights off. It'll help ease your headache." He put 89P13 in his cage, carefully, and clicked the door shut. "Then we'll discuss this problem."_

* * *

Rocket felt disgusting. There was no other word for it. He felt gross. He clutched his stomach and felt the contents gush up his esophegus, through his mouth and (mostly) inside the toilet bowl. He hoped that today wasn't going to be the day the plumbing crapped out. Speaking of which, he could only count himself lucky that he wasn't exploding out of both ends.

He knew what this was, of course. Now he was seven, he was old enough for hangovers. Or maybe the bionic liver wasn't as kind to him as his old one had been. Whatever the reason, he knew what was wrong and he also knew that he could just call out and someone would turn up with a few wisecracks and help him out. But being sick usually equalled something nasty. That had been his reason for refusing to tell Gavaar when he'd been sick...and it was his reason now. He spat out more bile and breathed in through his nose, hoping to calm the nausea if nothing else.

"Rocket? You done showering or whatever? I need to pee."

"Hang on, Kraglin, I - oh, _fuck."_ Rocket bent his body forward and felt himself shake with the force.

"Are you throwin' up in there?"

"Piss off! Ain't nothin' wrong with-" His body betrayed him (again) and he never got to finish his sentence.

Kraglin made a scoffing noise and Rocket could hear his footsteps as he walked away. "I'll get you some help. I'm no good with barf."

Great. Now everyone onboard would know. "I hope this happens to you, Obfonteri. None of this would've happened if you hadn't gotten me in that competition with Mantis!" Who would've thought that the Empath could drink so much? If he wasn't so impressed with her drinking prowess, he would be embarrassed.

"Hungover in there, Rock?"

"Suck my-" Rocket gagged and reconsidered his choice of words. "I'm fine in here, Quill. Go away!"

"You liar." Quill said and Rocket could hear the jerk laughing. "Do you want your shirt?"

The Terran flannel shirt seemed like a better option than what Rocket was currently wearing which was quite literally a towel because he didn't want to wear the pants he'd slept in. Why? Because they were filthy. "Yeah."

"Drax has something he says is going to help. I'll be back soon."

"I'm not sick." Rocket insisted. He wasn't throwing up any more, which was something. Hitting the flush button, he dropped the towel and dragged himself to the shower area, grimacing at the strands of black, gold, green, magenta and grey clumped around the drain. He knew that his fur clogged up the drains, but he had a much better excuse than the humanoids he lived with. Staggering to his feet, he pulled down the dial so he could easily reach it and twisted until cool water ran down. He hadn't eaten yet and his legs buckled, making him sit in a growing puddle of cold water. At least the water was clean. It was kinda nice, actually. Like sitting in the rain.

"I have clothes and Drax has...what _is_ that? Looks like boogers."

"You're really selling this to me, Pete." Rocket called out and he lay on his back, allowing the shower to splash cold water onto his belly.

"Damn, this water is cold!"

"Cold water is good for nausea." All the same, Drax helped Rocket sit up. "Drink this. It's good for the sickness brought on by drinking."

"I didn't drink like Mantis did. Holy shit." Rocket eyed the gelatinous mixture with displeasure. "I'm not drinking this. It looks like the stuff Groot barfs up when he's travel sick."

Drax shrugged and handed it to Quill. "If you change your mind, you only need ask for it."

Rocket shivered. The cold water had travelled through his underlayer of fur and now he was suffering for it. He let Quill wrap the towel around his shoulders, bunching his hands in the warm, rough fabric. He needed to get up. He couldn't stay in the bathroom all day, not with a full-bladdered Xandarian lurking around. Drax seemed to share this idea, because he helped push him to his feet and then scooped him up from the floor when it became clear that Rocket had lost too much energy to walk. "I'm not your pet!" Rocket warned him irritably.

"I know, but you will collapse if you try to move yourself."

"Try and drink the snot." Quill advised, pressing the cup into Rocket's hands.

If Drax hadn't stopped him, Rocket would have thrown the concoction direcly into Quill's hair. Instead, he had to settle for staring angrily after his captain's retreating back, thinking of how he planned to get the man back. And he had plans. Oh, he had plans. "Dick," he muttered as Drax walked with him to the cabin.

"He didn't help." Drax admitted bluntly. "But I would appreciate it if you didn't waste the remedy."

"You're no fun, are you, you big bald jerk?"

Drax waved his fingers in a tickling gesture.

"You wouldn't!"

"I would prefer not to."

"If you do, I'll bite all your fingers off!"

Drax laughed and smoothed behind his ears. "Does your head hurt?"

"No. Just spent the last hour hurlin' up everything I ate in the past two days." Rocket coughed and rubbed at his chest, suddenly mortified to realise he'd been completely naked in front of both of his family members. _'Oh, well. Not the first time they've seen you with nothin' on.'_ "I never used to get hangovers."

"I believe your new internal organ may be involved in this." Drax said as he found and entered Rocket's cabin.

"Stupid thing."

"Rocket," Drax set him down on his bunk, towel and all. "It saved your life."

"It sucks."

"Hangovers do. The prosthetic does not." Drax used the towel to rub over Rocket's head. It was vigourous, but was at least somewhat careful, which was more than Gavaar had ever afforded him. "And Lylla made it for you."

That was true. Rocket slumped slightly in defeat, feeling the cup of remedy in his hands. He put it on the floor. "I don't want no medicine." he said sharply. "Don't like it." He only took his pain meds because it would torture him to go without.

"Then you don't need to take it."

Before he could stop himself, Rocket asked; "I don't?"

"Of course not. Why?"

* * *

_"Your headache, is it gone yet?"_

_89P13 had been sitting in his cage, bored out of his mind, for what had seemed like years in the pitch black of the room. He could just make out his creator's silhouette. "Yeah, but now I've gone blind."_

_"You know damn well that the lights are off."_

_"You think that might have something to do with it, Gax?"_

_Light flooded the room. Gax gave him a seriously unimpressed look. "You need a_ serious _attitude adjustment-"_

_"So do you." 89P13 muttered, crossing his arms over his chest._

_"On your feet."_

_"No."_

"Now!"

_89P13 met his creator's eyes. Silence stretched out and he finally, slowly, stood up if only to get whatever new torture he was in for over with._

_"Thank you." Gax said sarcastically._

_89P13 shuffled back as his creator reached in for him. He wasn't doing it to be defiant. It was just instinct to him now. Not that it helped any, of course. The Aakon was larger than he was. He still struggled in his creator's hold, hoping to free himself. "Let me down!"_

_"Shh!" Gax lightly dropped him down to the unit by the basin where 89P13 showered. In his hand, he held one of the things 89P13 hated most of all. A needle. "This is going to help with your headaches. You won't get them so often now."_

_"No...I don't mind the headaches!"_

_"Well, I do. Look up."_

_"Why?"_

_"I need it to go in as close to your brain as possible."_

_"Why do I need to look up?"_

_"It'll make it easier for you."_

_89P13 froze. Surely, his creator didn't mean... "You want to put that thing in my_ eye?"

_"You'll barely feel a thing. Look up."_

_"No." 89P13 put his hands over his eyes and turned away, even though he knew it was useless. "No, no, no, no, no!"_

_"You're making this harder than it needs to be." Gax said. "Take your hands off of your face."_

_"Gax, please! I don't want a needle in my eyeball!"_

_"Nobody_ wants _a needle in the eye, but sometimes it needs to be done."_

_"Put it in your own fucking eye!"_

_"The only headache I have right now is you. Look up!"_

_In answer 89P13 put his forearms over his eyes, holding onto his own ears as tightly as he could. "Please, don't do this to me!"_

_Gax grabbed him by his collar and pulled him onto his back with such force that all the air was forced out of him. Taking advantage of 89P13's brief stillness, he forced his test subject's right eye's lids open and quickly stabbed the needle into his sclera. "There, you see, it wasn't that bad-"_

_"Go to hell!"_

_"It's for your own good, so stop being so ungrateful!"_

_"You stabbed me in the eye!"_

_"And some thanks I got for it."_

_"I hope you trip and the needle gets stuck up your-"_

_"That's enough, 89P13."_

_89P13 rubbed his eye. He was expecting to be stopped from doing it and wasn't surprised when Gax took his hand away from the area in question. "It hurts."_

_"It wouldn't hurt so much if you'd just kept still like I told you to."_

_89P13 looked away from his creator. "Dick."_

_"What did I tell you earlier?"_

_"I don't care." 89P13 insisted, but he flinched when his creator grabbed his arm. It was twisted painfully behind his back to the point that one movement would easily break it. "Let go of me!"_

_I told you to watch your tongue, 89P13, and did you?"_

_"Go to hell, Gax!"_

_"You're beginning to piss me off."_

_89P13 looked at his creator's left arm, the hand of which was holding the test subject's arm so tightly. "You're already pissed off."_

_Gax raised his brow. "How observant of you." he remarked drily and he wrenched the shoulder of 89P13's arm out of its socket._

_89P13 hadn't been expecting that. Fingers, maybe toes were usually the intended target of his creator's rages. The shoulder? That was new. He was so surprised that he didn't yell out, not even when the pain hit._

_"That's better. Mouth off again and I'll break your other arm. Do you understand me?"_

_89P13 definitely didn't want that. "Yeah, I understand. I'm not stupid, Gax."_

_"Not that it stopped you from refusing to tell me when you felt unwell."_

_"I told you, it was just a headache!"_

_"And I told you, having a headache after a brain surgery is not a good fucking sign!"_

_"Now who's mouthin' off, Gax?"_

_"What did you just say?!"_

_Crap. He hadn't meant to say that. He backed away, keeping his unharmed arm away from his creator. "Sometimes I just get headaches, okay? It's not a big deal!"_

_"It is when you're having brain surgeries for increased intelligence as regularly as you do!"_

_"I'm smart enough, I don't need any more!"_

_"From what I'm seeing, there's plenty of room for improvement."_

_"Maybe you should give yourself brain surgery and then you'll stop being such a dick!"_

_"And another thing, since when is it acceptable for you to refuse medicine like that? I don't seem to notice you refusing the relief medication for your cybernetics in the morning!"_

_"You know what it does to me when I don't have it!"_

_"Maybe you should go without it tomorrow. See if you want to refuse medicine in the future."_

_"You wouldn't."_

_"It wouldn't kill you or seriously harm you. Why not?"_

_"I won't refuse medicine again. I promise I won't. Anything but that, please!" Apologies meant so little now, but 89P13 tried anyway. "I'm sorry."_

_"This time I won't withhold your relief. This once." Gax held out his palm. "Give me your hand."_

_Refusing would get 89P13 nowhere. He couldn't bring himself to move his injured arm, so put the hand of the unharmed one into his creator's. It didn't take long for the digits to slowly get popped out of their sockets._

* * *

 

 

"Nothin'." Rocket said quietly. He didn't think he'd fooled Drax for one minute, but the man didn't press it, settling for drying between his ears. Rocket would have complained, but it felt too nice and he still felt like crap.

"If it was important, you would take it." Drax said after several minutes of silence. "You know your own needs."

 _'I wish Gax had realised that.'_ But, of course he hadn't. There had never been any trust from the Aakon to his little test subject. Rocket pulled the towel tight across his shoulders and let his head lower to Drax's shoulder, focusing on the warmth and the careful touches the man provided. He could feel the pressure of Drax's enormous hand trying to be gentle as he dried around Rocket's shoulders, his arms, even his back, as if it wasn't the ugliest part of him. Only it wasn't ugly. What had been done to it was ugly. Drax had said. "I used to get headaches a lot after surgeries. They weren't bad or anything, but Gavaar freaked out when he found out about 'em. He was really pissed with me." Although, perhaps he hadn't helped the situation any by mouthing off the way he had. "Had to take a shot in the eye. I didn't want him to stick a needle in the thing, but he never was good at taking 'no' for an answer. Then he got really mad 'cause I didn't tell him about the headaches in the first place and tried to refuse the shot."

Drax stilled his hands. One look upward told Rocket that Drax did not approve in the slightest of what he had been told. "He got angry with you because you didn't want him to pierce your eyeball with, I'm presuming, a large and very sharp needle?"

"Among other things, yeah."

Almost irritably, Drax began petting behind his neck. "Imbecilic fool," he muttered, but Rocket knew that Drax didn't mean him. "Is this why you didn't tell anybody you were sick?"

Rocket looked at his hands. "I never even used to tell Groot," he admitted. "If there was anything wrong, it got fixed, if I wanted it or not. And it always hurt when Gavaar mended me."

"I see." Drax said it calmly, but Rocket could see the murder in his eyes. Then the rage left and all that remained in the Destroyer's soft blue eyes was sadness. "I see." Large grey hands smoothed over the lumps of metal which poked out from Rocket's spine. "Do you remember when we found out that you were...when you told us about the problem you had with your liver?"

"What about it?"

"That was your decision to take care of it. We asked you to take care of it - and you did - but we never made any kind of decision for you medically." Drax scratched his neck thoughtfully. "With the exception of removing the health monitor, of course."

"I was happy with that decision." Rocket let the towel loosen from where it was tucked around his shoulders. "I know you guys wouldn't force me into anything." It was just hard for him to _remember_ that he knew that.

Drax rubbed behind his ears. "I'm glad to hear it." He looked into Rocket's eyes and all the mechanic could see was calm. "You do not need to tell us when you have a minor problem that you can resolve by yourself. You don't. I only ask that when something is major enough to worry you, you inform someone."

"And if I don't?"

"Then it's your own choice." Drax rested his hand between Rocket's shoulderblades. "I'm asking you, not ordering you."

Being asked, rather than ordered was nice. So maybe he'd give it a shot. "I'll try."

"I appreciate that."

And he did, Rocket knew. Drax appreciated him trying with a warning of failure more than Gavaar had ever appreciated him trying with the potential of success. "Me, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to choose some rules, go for it and I will do my best to write about them being broken!


	7. Rules 25, 29 & 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is for you, Woozletania!

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**   
~~**2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.** ~~   
~~**3) No lying.** ~~   
~~**4) No stealing.** ~~   
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**   
**6) No drinking shower water.**   
~~**7) No animalistic sounds.** ~~   
**8) No animalistic posturing.**   
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**   
**10) No drinking without permission.**   
~~**11) No digging through walls.** ~~   
~~**12) No mentioning the brush.** ~~   
**13) No licking body clean.**   
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**   
**15) No rudeness.**   
~~**16) No cuddling.** ~~   
**17) No being difficult.**   
~~**18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.** ~~   
**19) No escape attempts.**   
~~**20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.** ~~   
**21) No breakages.**   
**22) Get enough sleep.**   
**23) No wandering off.**   
~~**24) No refusal of medicine.** ~~   
~~**25) Never mention the prototypes.** ~~   
**26) No refusal of punishment.**   
**27) No hiding.**   
~~**28) No playing.** ~~   
~~**29) No arguing.** ~~   
~~**30) No secrets.** ~~   
**31) No spitting.**   
**32) No hitting.**   
**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**   
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**   
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**   
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**   
~~**37) No complaining about surgeries.** ~~   
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**   
**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**   
**40) No being distracted.**   
**41) No screaming.**   
**42) No begging.**   
**43) No wasting of resources.**   
**44) No lock picking.**   
**45) No taking objects into Home.**   
**46) No backchat.**   
**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**   
**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**   
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**   
**50) No asking for anything.**

 

_"Continue with the simulation. There's someone just outside the door I need to talk to. I won't be long."_

_89P13 didn't respond outside of a grudging nod of his head to indicate that he had heard what Gax had said. Ships exploded on the screen and, as the door closed, 89P13 paused his progress, saved, and looked around. It was rare for him to be alone and he had just the idea in mind on how to take advantage. Sprinting on all fours, he jumped onto the desk where the monitor stood. Somewhere, 89P13 knew, were files. His files. And maybe even the files of the mysterious prototypes - the subjects that Gax had made which hadn't turned out so well._  
_He touched the keypad uncertainly. Once when he'd been younger, he hadn't known that he wasn't supposed to play with the keypad and had written out a jumbled mess on Gax's notes. Back then, he hadn't needed beatings and burnings to teach him right from wrong. He found the flat square and used it to locate the search bar at the top. He wasn't very good at spelling yet, but that was okay because all he needed to know were codes which mostly involved numbers - like his name did. He found '8'. 10,908 results came up. Too many, there couldn't have been that many prototypes. '89' brought up 542 results which still seemed too many. '89p' found him 14 results which surprised him. He was 13. Who, or what was 14? Only one way to find out. He tapped in '14' and there was just one result for 89P14. He frowned at the name of the mysterious prototype. Was he sure that his name was 89P13? What if he actually was 89P14 all this time?_

_"Hey!"_

_89P13 almost jumped out of his fur and backed away, nearly falling off the desk. Gax grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the monitor and 89P13 struggled. "Let go of me!"_

_"I left you by yourself for three minutes -_ three minutes _\- and you decide to hack into the monitor?"_

_"I didn't hack! You left it logged in!"_

_"So it's_ my _fault?!"_

_"Yes!"_

_Gax shook him. "What were you doing? Hmm? What were you doing?"_

_"I'm not telling you!"_

_"I'll beat it out of you if I have to!"_

_"Go fuck yourself!"_

_"Tell me what you were doing!"_

_"No!"_

_"Why not?"_

_"It's none of your business!"_

_Gax exploded. "You're my responsibility, my test subject and my fucking problem. It is my business! You know damn well that we do not keep secrets in this building-"_

_"You're keeping a secret!" 89P13 snapped. "You never told me that there was one_ after _me!"_

 _"There are_ no _others!"_

_"Yeah? Then who's 89P14?"_

_Something flickered in Gax's eyes. His grip loosened, but he didn't let go of 89P13's arm. "He - it was one of the prototypes. We don't talk about those and you know that."_

_"Why was he made after me?"_

"It _didn't develop as well as you did." Gax said. "Stop talking about it."_

_"It's not fair. Why are you keeping a secret when you know it isn't allowed?"_

_"I'm not keeping any secrets from you. I'm just tired of talking about the same subject over and over again. It's irritating."_

_"Not as irritating as you are." 89P13 muttered and he cried out when Gax grabbed his ear and lifted him by it. "Ahh! Gax, let go! Oww!"_

_"Are you going to watch that mouth of yours or do I have to get the muzzle out and-"_

_"No!"_

_"I'm thrilled to hear it." Gax said and he dropped 89P13 onto his feet. "I've told you repeatedly not to talk about the prototypes and you know what happens when you break the rules-"_

_"But you're breaking them too! You didn't tell me there were prototypes after me! And, aren't prototypes supposed to come before a finished product?"_

_"Oh, good God."_

_"Am I 89P14?"_

_"Of course you're not 89P14! Don't you know your own name by now?"_

_"But why did 89P14 come after me-" Light flashed and, before 89P13 could even blink, the fiery searing pain of the tazerstick's electricity raced through him. He screamed and writhed, seeing sparks rise from his external collarbone and hoped that it would be over soon._

"I told you to stop asking about them!" _Gax rarely raised his voice, but now he did and it terrified 89P13 more than anything._ "When I set you rules, you follow them without question, end of discussion! Why is it so hard for you to understand that?"

_"I don't understand why." 89P13 mumbled. He could feel heat all over his body, blood pumping around his hands. "I don't understand."_

_"I do not have to explain myself to you. Up!" When 89P13 stayed where he was, the Aakon gave him an impatient strike on his thigh, watching emotionlessly as the test subject scrambled to his feet. "Be quicker about it next time!"_

_89P13 closed his eyes as Gax grabbed his hand. This time, instead of the fingers getting pulled from their sockets, the fingers were held down by his creator's thumb, the palm held up unprotected and vulnerable. He started trembling as the tazerstick was pressed against it. A beating on the soles of his feet was agony. A beating on the palms of his hands? It would be unbearable. "No...no...don't do this to me. Gax, please, don't! Anywhere else, but not my hands! Gax!"_

_"If you try to stop this," Gax warned coldly. "The beating will double and I'll start over from the beginning."_

"You _deserve to get beaten too!" 89P13 couldn't stop himself. He already knew he was in trouble, but so what? He was going to get beaten anyway and, since he doubted that he would be able to go through it without attempting to stop his creator, he knew he was highly likely to get double. So why not speak what was on his mind? "You're keeping a secret and we both know it!"_

_"Don't be ridiculous."_

_"It's true!"_

_"Do you want this to be tripled? Because I'm_ more _than happy to do that."_

_"Yeah, I bet you are, you cun-"_

_Gax slammed the tazerstick across 89P13's palm. He never used full force, not usually, but this time it was clear that he had and the pain rendered 89P13 silent. A large and tender welt rose to the surface of 89P13's hypersensitive hand and the Aakon struck his palm again, forcing out blood, although he had lessened his strength. A third strike brought out tears that turned to sobs that grew in volume as three other strikes fell. Finally, the test subject's wounded hand was released and the other was taken. "This wouldn't be happening to you if you hadn't broken the rules."_

_More than anything, 89P13 wanted to remind his creator that_ he _was the one keeping a secret. But the feeling of his own warm blood oozing out from a shallow cut in his palm was more than enough warning against it. He coughed and closed his eyes to fight against the tears leaking out of his eyes and waited. The seventh strike made him start screaming and the eighth brought him to his knees, trying desperately to wrench his fingers free so he could curl them over his injured hand. After the remaining four strikes, Gax let him go and watched as he curled up into a ball of agonised hysterics. The test subject remembered what he had been told about crying and he held his breath, using the back of his wrists to wipe his tears away before the 30 seconds of time he had were up._

_"On your feet or I beat them too."_

_Hiccuping, 89P13 stood, holding his hands behind his back to protect them from any other potential attacks._

_"Are we going to have any more of your nonsense today?"_

_89P13 afforded his creator a glare and shook his head._

_"I can't hear you."_

_"No."_

_"Good. How many ships did you get on the simulation?"_

_"Four hundred and twenty six."_

_"Mmm. Not so bad. Did you finish it?"_

_"No." 89P13 quietly admitted. "I paused it. I made sure to save my progress, though."_

_"That's something. Better finish it, don't you think?"_

_89P13 brought his hands out to survey the damage.  His hands were bloody, bruised and very sore. It would be impossible to hold the fake gun. "I can't. I won't be able to hold the gun right."_

_"Let's get you up to 600 ships today and we'll be finished."_

_"I can't!"_

_"You will. You know it gets you nowhere by being defiant."_

_"Gax, come on, this is stupid. You know I won't be able to get up to 600. You know I won't."_

_Gax grabbed under his arms and set his little test subject in front of the simulation device. "Continue."_

_"But-"_

_"Now."_

_The controller slipped in 89P13's blood-covered hands, clattering to the floor. He picked it back up delicately and could only watch as the ships he had been destroying with ease began destroying him._

* * *

Sometimes he still dreamed of his brothers and sisters. He certainly thought about them a lot more now that he knew about the origins of the second liver he had ever owned. Sometimes, the scar on his belly ached and he wondered if it was 89P12's way of reminding him that her death had been due to him.

Of course it wasn't. The infant he had held during his surgery-induced sleep would _never._

It seemed to him that he was surrounded by siblings. Not his own. People who had _living_ brothers and sisters. Pete had Kraglin and Mantis (and thousands dead, which Rocket was glad that he did not have. Two dead brothers and two dead sisters were more than enough for him.) Gamora had Nebula. Kraglin and Mantis both had Quill. Adoptive siblings, for sure, but there was a bond of a lifetime of love and rivalry there. Pete and Mantis were a strange case, though, considering that Ego had fathered Quill and raised Mantis from a baby. They hadn't known each other for _decades_ and now they loved each other like brother and sister. 

 _'At least,'_ Rocket thought as he skimmed mindlessly through his tablet. _'I don't have to worry about any little hazel-eyed Aakon kids rockin' up to ask what I did to their daddy.'_ Of course there was a truly horrible reason why Gavaar didn't have any children for Rocket to run into. But there was also a really, really nasty reason why Rocket had no siblings any more. He looked at their "names". 89P10, 89P11, 89P12 and 89P14. He wanted to see them. Only he couldn't do it. He was too afraid of what he might see.

"

"Hi, Rocket!"

Rocket shrugged in response to Mantis' chirpy greeting. He was in no mood for cheer and joy and hoped that maybe she might just get the message, even though she never had before. "What do you want?"

"I was looking for company." Mantis said.

"Well, you're lookin' in the wrong place. Beat it."

"Are you looking for your mother?"

Rocket gripped the tablet all the tighter with his hands. "I said 'beat it', Mantis!"

"But this is the common area." Mantis whispered, clasping her hands together nervously.

Rocket knew it was difficult for Mantis to speak up for herself. Usually, he'd be backing her up all the way, but not now. "I came here because it's night and I _thought_ it'd be empty, but you just had to turn up, didn't you? Don't you ever sleep?"

"I don't need much sleep." Mantis brushed some of her hair away from the corner of her mouth and then held her hands together again. "We're all allowed in here, puppy."

"I'm not a fucking puppy." Rocket snarled. "You know my name, so _fuckin'_ use it!"

Mantis shifted from one foot to the other. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Yeah, comin' in here! Go away."

"But, pup - Rocket..."

"Fuck off!" Rocket snarled. "I ain't tellin' you again, now beat it!"

Mantis stepped back, her eyes wide and shining. "Are...are you okay?"

"You won't fuckin' be if you don't get outta here! You know what, you're the biggest fuckin' pain in the ass on this ship! And that's sayin' something!"

Mantis looked down, her eyes filled with tears. She sniffled and let them fall. "I just wanted to know what was wrong. Something is bothering you. I know it is."

"I do not have to explain myself to you!" Rocket snapped and he was about to say something else on the subject when he remembered where he always used to hear those nine words from. Who he always used to hear them from. He scowled. "Damn you! Dammit, _fuck_ you!" The worst part was, he didn't even mean Mantis. He meant Gavaar. Of course, she didn't know that and she covered her face, turning away.

And that, naturally, was the moment Drax chose to walk in. He looked from Rocket to Mantis and back to Rocket again. "I need to help Mantis," he said. "Could you return to your cabin?"

Rocket, who had been waiting for Drax to berate him for making Mantis cry, blinked in confusion, but turned on his heel. At least, if nothing else, his cabin was a safe place. Nothing bad had ever happened to him in his safe space - be in his cage in Halfworld or his cabin onboard the spaceship.

* * *

 

_"I don't want you touching me." 89P13 growled as Gax approached his cage. "Bad things always seem to happen when you do."_

_"Your hands need to be taken care of."_

_"Shouldn't have beat 'em into slivers then, should you?"_

_"Any more of your nonsense and I'll_ break _your hands. Is that what you want?" At 89P13's angry shake of his head, the Aakon lifted him out and held him close to his hip. "You managed it. 600. You only needed another one hundred and seventy four ships anyway, so it wasn't a_ real _challenge."_

_It had been with hands that were slippery with blood. "You don't have a creator, right?"_

_"No. I told you I didn't. I had parents."_

_"I hope they'll beat you."_

_"They're both dead, so they won't find it very easy."_

_89P13 jolted as he was set down by the basin. "She died? You said your mom was in the hospital-"_

_"Yes, she died." Gax turned the lever on the faucet until warm water began running. "It isn't nice when things die and...and you have to watch them."_

_"I don't know anyone who died."_

_"I know you don't. It's not easy to watch someone die. In a way..." Gax dipped a cloth into the warm water and held out 89P13's hand again. "The prototypes died. They didn't make it out of their test tubes. And there wasn't anything I could do to stop them from dying. There was a time when I thought you wouldn't make it, but you did."_

_89P13 hissed as the cloth pressed against his palm. "I bet you wish one of the others lived instead of me."_

_Gax pulled his ear. "Never say that." he said sharply. "You survived because you were the strongest. I'd rather have you than any of the others."_

_"Get off my ear, would you? It's hurtin'." As his creator released him, 89P13 held up his other hand so it could be cleansed of the dried, blackened blood. "Does it hurt when other people die?"_

_"It's agony when other people die."_

_And he was the only subject of fourteen subjects to survive. 89P13 imagined losing thirteen people. He couldn't. He imagined being in agony thirteen times. He just about could. He took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry you lost the prototypes."_

_"I'm not. You came out of it and that's the important thing." Gax found a dry cloth and patted it against 89P13's palms roughly._

_"I won't bring them up again."_

_"Of course you won't." Gax applied just enough pressure on his little test subject's hands to constitute a warning to 89P13. "Keep your palms up. I need to disinfect them."_

_89P13 wrinkled his nose at the sight of the dreaded purple bottle, but managed to refrain from even gasping in pain as it was rubbed over his hands. He closed his eyes tightly to fight against any tears and coughed several times as he felt sobs rise in his throat._

_"All done." Gax said, wrapping a bandage around each hand. "They'll be better by tomorrow."_

_89P13 had hoped for an appliance from Gax's healing device and felt his ears droop. It was going to be a long,_ long _night._

* * *

Now Rocket knew better. There had been five potential subjects in himself and his siblings. And there had been 89P09. That was it. A family of six reduced to a sole survivor, thanks to some Aakon teenager who thought he was God. Rocket had no idea who the other eight were before 89P09 was in Halfworld. Whoever they were, he pitied them. 

Rocket slid his tablet under his pillow and edged closer to the door. If he listened very closely, he could make out Drax's voice rumbling and a softer, gentler voice that was Mantis. He supposed she was telling Drax all about how mean he had been to her. And he had been pretty nasty. He regretted it, he really did, she hadn't deserved that. All she'd wanted was company to spend a little time with. She had never asked him to be sociable, just _be_ there. And how'd he reacted? By making her cry, not too dissimilarly to how Gavaar had made him cry back in the lab. Rocket's ears picked up footsteps and he backed away from the door, his ears lowering as he heard knocking. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?"

 _Fuck._ "What for?"

"I want to talk with you."

Rocket considered his options. He could refuse and Drax would probably be okay with that for a couple hours, but then he would return to try again. If that happened, chances were that the man would push a little harder to talk until one of them snapped and started yelling at the other through the closed door. He could prolong the inevitable or just accept it. He sighed. "Fine." He was okay with Drax coming in, really, but he couldn't stop himself from stepping back, keeping his eyes low. God knew what Mantis had been telling the man.

Drax dropped to one knee. Oh, _fuck_. He meant business. "What's going on?"

"I don't know what crap she's been fillin' your head with, but nothing is wrong!"

"Really?" Drax rested one elbow on his raised knee and looked into Rocket's amber eyes with serious blue. "Usually when you want your own space, you'll go and find somewhere-"

"Why should _I_ leave just because she decided she wanted to turn up?" Rocket snapped. "I didn't _ask_ for her to live on this ship, y'know!"

"I never said that you should have left, only that you usually deal with such issues yourself. If it was a problem before, we certainly would have been told as such by now."

"There's no fuckin' problem, Drax!"

"Yes, there is! I know there is. What is wrong?"

"Nothing is fucking wrong except for the fact that I am surrounded by jackasses who keep on asking me what's wrong!"

"Because there is clearly something bothering you and I want to know what it is."

"She's botherin' me and so are you!"

"How is she bothering you?"

"Because she is!"

Drax sighed and rubbed his jawbone. "She worries about you. So do I."

"Too fuckin' bad, Drax." Rocket muttered, crossing his arms.

"Ego was not good to Mantis." Drax said quietly. "He frightened her when she was young. He didn't hurt her, but he caused her to fear him so greatly that she didn't dare to oppose him for years. It's difficult for her to defend her own rights."

"I know that! But she should have let it go when I told her nothing was wrong!" _'Just like I should have let it go when Gavaar told me not to ask about the prototypes.'_ At this thought, Rocket swallowed a lump in his throat and looked away from Drax.

"And it's hard for her to go against what people tell her to do."

"So why did she?"

"Because her concern for you was greater than her fear of bad consequences."

The bastard was guilt-tripping him. Rocket tried to glare at him, tried his best to be angry so he could fight away the growing heat in his eyes, but something squeezed around his throat and the guilt overtook him and he was unable to stop the tears from falling.

Drax placed one enormous hand on his shoulder and guided him forward until he was standing directly against his chest and used his other hand to stroke the back of his head. "I want to help you." he said softly. "Come, tell me what the problem is."

Rocket didn't want to come out and say it, but the words spilled from his mouth. "I keep thinkin' about them." he whispered.

"Who?" Drax asked. His hand had moved from Rocket's shoulder and was now carefully patting his back, the soft contact feeling unusual on the part of him that had always taken so much abuse.

Rocket hesitated. Could he talk about them with Drax the way he rarely spoke of them with Gamora? He looked up at him through sore eyes, blinking away excess water. Could he say it?

"You can speak of anything to me." Drax reminded him gently. "Anything at all."

Rocket tensed his shoulders a little, but quickly said; "Prototypes."

"Oh." Drax nodded and, sure enough, there was no anger in his eyes. "That was what he called your siblings, yes?"

Rocket managed a nod. "Everybody's got a sibling." he said. "Pete has Mantis and Kraglin and they've got him. Gamora has Nebula. You have a brother and a sister. Groot doesn't, but he's never said he wanted one, so it's not a problem for him."

"You want siblings?"

Rocket wiped at his eyes. "I never used to. But since learning about 89P12 and how Gavaar got her to donate her organs to me...I can't stop thinking about them."

"Mmm." Drax lowered his other knee so he rested on both of them. "Quill lost his own siblings. He only has Kraglin and Mantis because one was raised alongside him as a brother and the other was raised by the man who fathered him."

"Nobody was raised alongside me and I don't know what the hell happened to the thing my mom mated with, let alone _his_ spawn." Rocket shivered. "And Gavaar doesn't have any kids. We both know the Kree would have ensured that wouldn't have happened."

"I was not suggesting that you gain siblings through _him."_ Drax stopped patting his back and rested his palm across it instead. "I'm saying that an adoptive sibling is every part as good as one you share genes with."

Thinking of Pete with both his adoptive siblings and Gamora with Nebula, Rocket lowered his head. "I know that. I just...I can't stop thinking of them and wanting to talk about them." He looked back up at Drax. "I didn't know they existed. I knew there were things before me because I was 13. Made sense that there were a dozen others before me. I asked Gavaar and he slipped up and said that there had been others before me. He didn't tell me that some were my siblings, called 'em 'prototypes' and..."

"He refused to speak of them to you." Drax finished. "Yes, I remember you telling us this."

"He did, once." Rocket rested his cheek against Drax's chest. "He stepped out for a couple minutes and I got onto his monitor. Found 89P14, but Gavaar came in before I could find out more about him. I tried not to tell him what I was doing, but he started scolding me for keeping a secret and then I got mad and told him that _he_ was keeping a secret...It got really messy. Boy, was he pissed. When I finally told him that I knew 89P14 existed and asked why he was made after me, Gavaar got even madder. He didn't yell much, if you can believe it, but he really screamed at me." Rocket looked at his hands. "He hurt my hands."

Drax made a sound of concern and reached for Rocket's hand with the one he had been petting him with, even though the only sign of damage was a line that the mechanic could barely see.

"When he was cleanin' my hands up later, he said that he'd lost his mom..." Rocket looked at his hand which was held so tenderly in Drax's. "He always told me that she was in a hospital because she was sick. And he said that losing people really hurt and when the prototypes didn't work out, it was like they had died. I thought he'd made _all_ of the prototypes. The twelve before me and the one after. I thought he'd lost thirteen people. I actually felt sorry for him. I even said I was sorry that he lost them. You know what he said? 'I'm not.' He wasn't sorry that my mom lost her babies. He wasn't even sorry he tore 89P12 apart for her organs. He didn't care."

Drax pushed him closer and wrapped his free arm around Rocket's shoulders. "He didn't. But we do."

"You shouldn't." Rocket mumbled. "You really shouldn't."

"I can't think of one reason why not." Drax said.

"I can."

"You would." Drax let him go, his hand moving from Rocket's back to his shoulder again. "You have every right to speak of the ones you lost. They were your blood."

"Won't you get bored if I keep bringing them up?"

"Absolutely not." Drax smoothed between his ears, smiling as Rocket leaned his head into the touch. "And you don't need to keep your feelings a secret. If you feel melancholic, there's no shame."

It always surprised Rocket how Drax was so calm about the things Gavaar would have gone crazy over. "I didn't mean to upset Mantis."

"I'm sure you can fix it easily with her." Drax said. "She loves you."

* * *

He thought, briefly, that maybe Mantis might not be in a forgiving mood. Stupid, really. Empaths were the most forgiving people in the universe, if Mantis was anything to go by. He found her where he had left her, in the common area, and watched her uncertainly until her head turned and she looked at her hands which were clasped together in her lap. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault." Rocket said. "It was my own fault. I...Things ain't been easy, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you." He looked around the room and then down at his own feet. "Sorry."

Mantis moved and he looked up sharply, but she was holding out her hand. That was all. She just wanted to hold his hand, maybe to reassure herself that he really wasn't angry after all. He owed her that much. He wrapped his fingers around hers, even stepping closer to the woman. She rubbed her thumb over his knuckles and gestured to her antennae with her free hand. "Can I?"

He looked at her antennae suspiciously. He knew exactly what they did. He was about to refuse somewhat politely, when he remembered what Drax had said about there being no shame in his feelings. He shrugged. "Okay."

The bulbs glowed, softly at first, increasing in brightness. The brightness grew in her eyes. "You feel guilt and...love. Sororal love. You're thinking of a sister."

 _'An adoptive sibling is every part as good as one you share genes with.'_ "Yeah." Rocket said slowly. "I am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As last time, please feel free to choose some rules for Rocket to break if you want any! Sinikettu, your story is next I promise!


	8. Rules 39 & 45

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
**~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~**  
**~~3) No lying.~~**  
**~~4) No stealing.~~**  
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**  
**6) No drinking shower water.**  
**~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~**  
**8) No animalistic posturing.**  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
**~~11) No digging through walls.~~**  
**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~**  
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**15) No rudeness.**  
**~~16) No cuddling.~~**  
**17) No being difficult.**  
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~**  
**19) No escape attempts.**  
**~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~**  
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
**23) No wandering off.**  
**~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~**  
**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~**  
**26) No refusal of punishment.**  
**27) No hiding.**  
**~~28) No playing.~~**  
**~~29) No arguing.~~**  
**~~30) No secrets.~~**  
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
**~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~**  
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
~~**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.** ~~  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
**42) No begging.**  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
**44) No lock picking.**  
~~**45) No taking objects into Home.** ~~  
**46) No backchat.**  
**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  
**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
~~**50) No asking for anything.**~~

_"What have you got there?"_

_89P13 held the marble close to his chest. It was one of his sensory toys, from ages ago when Gax had been trying to determine if he knew which colour was which. The one he held looked like it had pink, pearly clouds inside and it was very shiny. It was his favourite of all of the toys for his visual senses. He had been allowed to choose a toy as a reward because Gax had ran out of grapes for him, but the problem was that he hadn't ended up with much time to play with his marbles, in particular the pink one. "I'm not finished." he told his creator._

_"You are. It's time for the marbles to go back now. Give it here and you can have your meal."_

_89P13 looked at his cage and then at the marble clutched tightly in his little dark hand. Maybe, if he tried to be polite, he could take the marble into his 'home'. "Please, Gax, I want to keep it."_

_"No. You'll only distract yourself all night with it." Gax held out the metal box which was filled with all the marbles 89P13 had had access to. Eight shades of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, pinks and inbetween colours like indigo and turquoise. "I'm going to get your grains ready and you'd better put that marble in that box."_

_89P13 glared at his creator. "I'm not gonna keep myself up all night with it. I just want it there. Why is that such a huge problem?"_

_"Because I don't trust you not to get distracted." Gax told him sharply. He raised his hand and slapped 89P13's hand to make him release the marble. "Put it back where you got it!"_

_"I don't trust you either." 89P13 muttered, rubbing his hand as Gax got up. He wanted to throw the marble at his creator's retreating back. Maybe he'd even catch his head. It could kill him. Wouldn't that be great? He looked at the marble and then at the box. He could see that Gax was getting out his sachets and had a sudden, insane thought that maybe he could sneak the marble into Home and hide it under his food dish. Maybe, if he was lucky, Gax would never know about it. He slipped the marble into his mouth and hid it under the very back of his tongue and made a point of opening and then closing the lid of the box so Gax would think it had been replaced._

_"That's more like it." Gax picked him up under his arms and pressed the nozzle of the satchet against his mouth. "Be a bit quicker this time, you're behind schedule for your sleep."_

_"Could miss my shower?" 89P13 said, careful of his tongue. It felt odd to speak with the marble in his mouth and he knew he would have to be very careful when_

_"Not a chance in hell. Come on, eat your food!"_

_89P13 moved the marble to one side of his mouth with his tongue and just about managed to suck down the contents of the satchet without dislodging it. Unluckily for him, just as he'd finished his meal, the marble slipped and he swallowed it without meaning to. He blinked, tried to breathe, and found that he couldn't. He couldn't even cough to try and remove the marble and made a strange rasping sound._

_"89P13, what's wrong?"_

_Still choking, 89P13 touched his hands to his throat._

_Gax didn't take long to realise what was going on. 89P13 had never seen him look anything other than emotionless or angry before, but now he saw fear in his eyes. "Fuck, fuck, fuck...How the hell are you choking on this?" He clearly didn't expect an answer, but he opened 89P13's mouth to look inside, frowned in surprise, and then lay him over his elbow and began hitting his back until finally the marble shot out. He was quiet, panting slightly as if he'd been running around. "What the fuck," he growled after some silence, "was that doing in your mouth?"_

_89P13 found it difficult to speak. "I...told you...I...I wanted the..."_

_"You put it in your mouth, you tiny moron, you could have died! You nearly_ did _die!"_

_"If you'd just let me take it in Home, instead of being such a control freak, then I never would have put it in my mouth!"_

_"Don't you fucking_ dare _blame me!" Gax turned him around and 89P13 could see nothing but rage in the Aakon's face. "You're the one who broke the rule!"_

 _"Fuck the rules and fuck_ you!"

 _"Subject 89P13, don't even_ think _of giving me any of your attitude! I just as easily could have allowed you to die. You should be thanking me, not starting your nonsense!"_

_"You were the one being unfair! I've never done anything to make you not trust me!"_

_Gax raised his brow. "You just tried to sneak one of your toys into Home. If that isn't untrustworthy behaviour, I don't know what is..."_

_"Yeah, well, if you're gonna not trust me, I'll give you a damn good reason not to." 89P13 said defiantly._

_"Is that so?"_

_"Yes."_

_Gax didn't say anything, instead silently opening the drawer 89P13 knew only too well. He forced the cage of the muzzle over 89P13's snout, even as the test subject writhed and struggled in his creator's arms. Using only one hand, he buckled the evil thing tightly around 89P13's head until it hurt and, had it not been for the test subject's fur, blood would have been drawn from the pressure. Then, almost too calmly, he turned the red spigot on in the basin. Hot steaming water filled the basin halfway and Gax shut off the water, putting his hand in so the water slightly rose. Steam rose thickly from yellow skin and Gax placed 89P13 in the large basin, the movement deliberately slow as his little test subject began twisting and screaming in agonised protest at the heat against his skin._

_89P13 tried his best to keep his hands out of the water, but his creator soon saw what he was trying to avoid and pushed them below the surface. Tears streamed down 89P13's face and he coughed, sobbing. He hoped that this would be done soon, but Gax wouldn't let him wash by himself - which was probably just as well, really, because 89P13 couldn't bear the idea of the borderline acidic soap on his hands which burned so badly from the scalding heat - and was determined to take his time, slowly lathering 89P13's arms and head. 89P13 closed his eyes and yelped as his head was forced under the water where his eyelids felt as if they would soon dissolve from the heat. It didn't last long, thankfully, but he waved his arms around, desperately hoping to be taken out of the 'bath' soon._

_"Not done yet." Gax said and he grabbed 89P13's legs - one after the other - to lather them up, too, keeping each foot in the burning water. He finished and grabbed 89P13's jaw, forcing their eyes to meet._ "Stop crying. _It's been 30 seconds."_

_89P13 tried. He really did. But he was still in agony, he was in fear of what Gax would do to him for crying after the time limit and he just couldn't stop. He felt the cage part of the muzzle get forced upward and felt more tears fall. "'o. 'O, 'ax." His garbled pleas didn't work, not that they ever had, and soon the barbs of the muzzle's accessory pierced his tongue. Hot droplets splashed against the bald part of his back and he screamed twice - once for the water and again for the fact his tongue pressed against the spikes and began to bleed. He whimpered and reached for Gax's wrist, pointing at the muzzle._

_"No, it's not coming off yet." Gax said. He put down a towel and 89P13 could have passed out from relief. The Aakon took him out of the basin and onto the towel, using it to roughly dry his fur, not caring how he hurt the inflamed skin beneath. "We'll see if your attitude has improved or not in the morning."_

_89P13 edged away from Gax's hands, not wanting to be touched by him. He shook his head, pointing at the metal piece he held in his mouth._

_"What's the matter? I thought that you_ liked _to keep things in your mouth."_

_89P13 shook his head again._

_Gax sighed and removed it. "I suppose it would be better to avoid any more choking." He tossed the metal piece by 89P13's sore feet and lifted him under his arms, so they were face-to-face. "If you_ ever _try to put anything in any part of your body so you can smuggle it to Home again, I swear to you that before you go to sleep each night, I'll perform a full cavity search in_ every _orifice you have. I might even suggest it to your buyers. Do you understand?"_

_89P13 nodded his head. Under no circumstances did he want that to happen to him._

_"Good." Gax opened up the cage and put him inside. "Go to sleep. I'll be back in the morning."_

* * *

 

"Why do you have so many ornaments?" Rocket asked the man from his perch on his shoulder. He liked the view from up here, he could see huge, snowy mountains over the many fruit trees that made up 94% of Kylos' terrain.

Drax held up the large red clay urn with its teal and gold-orange squiggles. "This is for the ship." He handed it to Rocket who was on his shoulder, having grown bored with almost being stepped on in the marketplace on Kylos. Drax showed Rocket a circular lamp carved from the blue gem the planet was famous for. "This is for my cabin. The blue, it reminds me of Hovat's eyes."

"Pretty." Rocket said, and he meant it. The blue held a hint of deep purple and it was easy to see why Kylorian sapphires were so popular.

"Yes. The sapphire is said to be unbreakable which is useful." To test it out, Drax struck it against a table and laughed when the table cracked, but the lamp remained intact. "Kylos is a wondrous place," he said fondly, which went a long way to placate the pink-skinned owner of the table. "What do you sell, friend?"

"Precious stones." the Kylorian said and he began explaining the history of each stone on his table.

One had caught Rocket's eye already. It was a darker shade than the pink marble he had loved so much in the lab, but it shared the swirling, cloudy design and was just as perfectly circular. He could see other pink stones and soon found one almost the exact shade of the one he had loved so many years before. He jumped down from Drax's shoulder, landing noiselessly on the table. He reached for the stone and shrieked as the Kylorian harshly slapped his hand away, even though it didn't really hurt. What did hurt was the flash of memory that accompanied the slap. There was a flurry in all shades of the rainbow as Drax grabbed the man by the throat and held a blade to his throat before Rocket could even reach for his own weapons to defend himself with.

"You dare strike him?" Drax snarled, pressing his knife into the Kylorian's neck enough to draw blood, yet not enough to kill. Rocket couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the man so pissed. "Do you?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't want any of my wares to go missing!"

"Oh, you will be sorry." Drax promised softly and, had Gamora not ran over, he undoubtedly would have shed deep purple blood across the stones the man was trying to sell.

"Drax, let him go!"

"No."

Gamora looked at the Kylorian whose face was turning the shame shade of pink as the stone which had unwittingly caused the current problem. Then she looked at Rocket. She frowned at his hand which he held protectively to his chest. "What's happened to your hand?"

"This scum is to blame!" Drax thundered. "Tell her what you did!"

Gamora stepped closer to the Kylorian and she must have been equally or more terrifying to behold than Drax was, for the man almost turned white. "What did you do?" she asked icily, her hand wrapping around the hilt of her sword.

Rocket could see the eyes on them and he could hear hushed voices of other shoppers. He pulled himself together, not wanting any more attention than he already had, and pulled at Drax's elbow, making the Kylorian flinch nervously. "Drax, it wasn't that bad! I can take a hit. Come on, leave this dumbass alone." That being said, he gained no small amount of satisfaction seeing purple blood slowly drip from the sharp silver edge of Drax's sharpest knife. 

Drax glanced at him and breathed deeply in through his nose. Bringing the Kylorian closer, he growled; "If I see your face again, I will slice it clean off your skull. Are we understood?"

The Kylorian nodded, not able to say much with Drax's fist closed around his neck, and crumpled to the ground when released.

Drax glowered down at the Kylorian and bent to replace his knife into his boot. He paused for a short time before standing up again, holding out his hand in a careful invitation to Rocket for him to climb onto his shoulder again.

Rocket hesitated and looked at Drax's hand. It was large. Strong. Capable of much more harm than any other hand that had hurt him before. And then it reached further and rubbed behind his head gently and he remembered that he had nothing to fear from it before springing back onto Drax's shoulder.

* * *

It wasn't until several hours after the marketplace incident that the marketplace incident was brought up. And, perhaps most surprisingly, it was Rocket who brought it up. There was something that had been worrying him as he'd been trying to relax on the man's chest. "You know I wasn't going to steal anything, right?"

Drax had been obligingly going over his shoulders with Kamaria's brush for the past fifteen minutes and nodded his head. "Yes. Usually, you are more subtle in your manner of thievery."

"Well, yeah. An obvious thief is a crappy thief."

Drax hummed in quiet agreement and put the brush down. He rubbed between Rocket's ears briefly and then reached for his hand, his blue eyes looking over it sharply. "Does it still hurt?"

"It didn't hurt. He just surprised me. If it'd hurt, he'd be dead and I'd be bustin' my way out of Prison 24."

"I know it hurt." Drax said, letting go of his hand. "I could see it in your face."

"It didn't hurt that bad." Rocket amended. "It was...something that happened when I was smaller."

"Are you able to speak of this?"

Rocket lay his head against Drax's torso. He could feel the steady thump of his heart beating underneath his temple. "Did you have marbles when you were a kid?"

"Yes. They were made of wood, but the wealthy children had glass. We would paint the wooden ones bright colours to make up for the materials they were made from."

"I had marbles. Glass. I don't think my mom could see colour that well, so he wanted to be sure that I could. When I was little, after he did the surgeries on my eyes, he used the marbles to see if I knew which colour was which. I loved those things and the one I liked best of all looked like the stone I saw today. In fact," Rocket thought about the stone, as he remembered it and the marble he'd known. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say the marble was one of those stones. Anyway, I learned my colours and Gax kept 'em around because he knew he could use them and my other toys for rewarding purposes on the rare occasions he ran out of grapes for me."

"I see."

"Thing was, he didn't like me to play with them for too long. So he'd give me a minute to pick a toy and a minute to play with it. Didn't matter if it only took me a couple seconds to choose one, I'd get a minute with it and that was the end of it." Rocket flicked his ear to signal that he wanted more petting and waited a short while before continuing. "One of his many rules was that I couldn't bring anything into my cage because he thought I'd keep myself awake when I should have been asleep. One day, I really wanted more time with this pink marble. It wasn't loud or flashy, so all I could really do was stick it in a corner and look at it. I asked him, he said 'no' and he slapped at my hand to make me let go..." Rocket stopped, looking at the hand both Gax and the Kylorian had struck.

"You didn't ask much." Drax said softly, resting his fingers over the smaller, dark hand.

"That's what I thought. So, I stuck it in my mouth and hoped to hell that he wouldn't realise. Would've gotten away with it, too, if I hadn't choked on it after he gave me my night meal."

"You choked on it?" Drax looked appalled, his hand stilling on Rocket's head. "That would have been _terrifying."_

"It was. Of course, the real scary part was him, after he beat the marble out of my airways. He was scoldin' me, I was screamin' at him...we were not happy with each other at all. I told him that it was his fault that I had to sneak the marble in my cage because he'd decided I couldn't be trusted and if he was gonna choose to distrust me, I would give him a reason to do it. He didn't like that." The hypocrisy, of course, was not lost on Rocket. "He hurt me."

Drax's mouth tightened. "And you recalled this after the Kylorian hit you?"

"Yeah." Rocket laughed coldly. "Pathetic, right? All that yellin' over somethin' that didn't even hurt just because-"

"Rocket." Drax interrupted quickly, rubbing at his back and shoulders, barely noticing the implants that Rocket was so, so aware of each and every day. "Physical pain is nothing in comparison to the agony of a bad memory."

"You're tellin' me."

"Yes, I am."

Rocket managed a real, if small, laugh. "I know memories hurt more than the bad thing itself. Goddammit," he looked at the brush which Drax had made for his daughter years before Rocket had even been a possibility. "We _both_ know that. But, lately, the memories don't hurt like they used to. Sometimes, I can think of Gavaar and I don't feel angry or scared or sad. I guess he doesn't feel so real any more. Like he was a bad dream or something."

Drax smiled, a proud and warm expression. "You're healing."

"Well," Rocket shrugged. "Slowly."

Drax drew his hand back and felt for something in his pocket, bringing out something small, round and familiar in colour. "I saw you looking at it before the Kylorian chose to strike. Do you still want it?" When Rocket looked at it longingly, but hesitated to actually take it, Drax touched behind his ears. "You can take it wherever you wish to take it. You have your own space and it's yours to fill with what you want. Even if it is as small as a stone or marble."

Rocket could feel the differences in the surface of the stone. The marble in the lab had been lightly cracked, in spite of its smooth appearance and it had felt older somehow - worn down through years. This one was entirely smooth, bar microscopic lumps where the cutting tool had failed to make a curved edge. The shade was also slightly brighter and warmer and he placed it by the brush so he would know where it was. "Why did you take it for me?"

"I could see that you appreciated it and believed that it would make you happy." Drax tilted his head, almost anxiously. "Does it?"

It made him just as happy as the marble in the lab would have made him. But only Drax really cared enough about his happiness to do anything about it and Rocket looked away, feeling heat streak down his face. Dammit. On top of screaming his lungs out, now he was bawling like an asshole. _'30...29...28...'_

Drax petted behind his neck gently. "I didn't intend to cause any harm-"

"You didn't." _'20...19...18....'_ "I'm just bein' stupid." _'13...12...11...'_

"How so?"

 _'7...6...5...'_ It was no use. They wouldn't stop. "He never would've done anything like that for me." _'2...1...0.'_ Still crying. Fuck. He closed his eyes all the tighter and held in his breath, tried to think of anything except the fact he lived with someone who committed acts of crime just to put a smile on his face, but it wasn't easy when that someone kept petting behind his ears. "Drax, I can't stop if you're gonna do that!"

"Are you ready to stop?"

He'd never been asked that before and he had to think before answering the question, simple as it was. "No, but-"

"It's dangerous to force something to end when it isn't ready." Drax said, continuing the petting. "I presume that he never told you this?"

Rocket shook his head, wiping his eyes roughly. He was finished, he _was._ "If I cried as long as I needed to in the lab, we'd never have gotten anything done."

"Hmph." Drax smoothed his large hand over Rocket's shoulders. "I suppose that he was the one who told you this?"

Rocket couldn't do anything, but nod. It _had_ been Gavaar who had said it, after all. "He had a point."

"He had nothing." Drax petted behind his neck again. "Did he ban you from weeping?"

"No. I have thirty seconds to get it out."

"Thirty seconds!" Drax was silent for a few moments. "I hope that you will be able to forget this in time."

"I don't know if I can. Even when...when Groot...when Groot died...it's like there's a timer or something and I have to keep to it."

"Hmm." Drax was clearly thinking about this new information, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "A timer, you tell me? Maybe its time could be doubled?"

Rocket blinked. "How?"

"Don't allow it to count back from thirty. Make it count back from sixty instead."

 _'Can I really do that?'_ Hopefully there wouldn't be any reason to try it for a long time, though Rocket doubted it. "You think it'll work?"

"I'm certain." Drax said. "And I'm sure that you can reset the timer."

It would be difficult. But Rocket was sure that it wouldn't impossible. Not with Drax around. 


	9. Rules 30, 33 & 47

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
**~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~ **   
**~~3) No lying.~~ **   
**~~4) No stealing.~~ **   
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**  
**6) No drinking shower water.**  
**~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~ **   
**8) No animalistic posturing.**  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
**~~11) No digging through walls.~~ **   
**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~ **   
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**15) No rudeness.**  
**~~16) No cuddling.~~ **   
**17) No being difficult.**  
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~ **   
**19) No escape attempts.**  
**~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~ **   
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
**23) No wandering off.**  
**~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~ **   
**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~ **   
**26) No refusal of punishment.**  
**27) No hiding.**  
**~~28) No playing.~~ **   
**~~29) No arguing.~~ **   
**~~30) No secrets.~~ **   
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
~~**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**~~  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
**~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~ **   
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
~~**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
**42) No begging.**  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
**44) No lock picking.**  
~~**45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
**46) No backchat.**  
~~**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**~~  
**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
~~**50) No asking for anything.** ~~

  
_89P13 sat by his creator's left leg, leaning against it, feeling utterly and hopelessly bored out of his skull. It was the worst part of the week, when Gax wrote up the notes. It left the test subject with nothing to do, but twiddle his thumbs. "Gax, are you done yet?"_

_"What time does it say on the wall?"_

_89P13 didn't need to look. He already knew. "It's not mealtime yet."_

_"Then, no, I'm not done. Quieten down, I need to concentrate on this."_

_"You shouldn't type with just one hand."_

_"Shh!"_

'Maybe if I show Gax how to type with both hands, he'll be done quicker.' _89P13 decided and he jumped, clinging onto the Aakon's knee with both hands before finally managing to stand on his creator's thigh. Gax looked sharply at him and he squared his small shoulders and tried to make his height of exactly one foot look as impressive as possible. "You need help with typing."_

_"No, I don't. What I need is peace and quiet so I can type the notes up."_

_"If you use both hands, you'll get it done quicker."_

_"89P13," Gax said softly. "I know if I use both hands, it'll get written more quickly. I do it the longer way because then I can spot any mistakes I might've made. I'm not stupid, you know."_

_"Why don't you just type it quickly and then check it over when you've finished?"_

_"Because if I've made dozens of mistakes, I'll have to go back over and over again." Gax lifted under 89P13's arms and set him down on his right thigh. "You've only got fifteen minutes to wait."_

_"Fourteen."_

_"Fourteen. Then I'll be finished with this."_

_As his creator started typing again, 89P13 turned so he could rest his back against the Aakon's torso. He could feel something metal jab into his side and soon found himself holding a silver circle. On it was a key 89P13 knew very well. He looked up at Gax to see if he'd noticed what 89P13 had found. Nope, he was focused as ever on the monitor. 89P13 knew that it would be impossible to take the ring away without Gax noticing as it was attached to a clip around his creator's belt and he didn't dare touch it. He found that he could lift a part of the ring and slide the key through the gap and did just that until the key was in his hand. It was so tiny that he could almost close his fingers around it. He put the key between his front teeth and climbed up Gax's arm to his shoulder. "Goin' to the floor," he explained in the hope that Gax wouldn't get suspicious._

_"Go over to the food drawer." Gax murmured, but he didn't look up._

_89P13 had no such intentions. He jumped to the floor and padded softly to the toy cupboard. The key turned easily in the lock and 89P13 opened the door slowly so it wouldn't creak and took a look at all of his toys. He didn't just have marbles to play with. He also had a box filled with balls. One was a little boring, being simply large and squashy and he'd punctured it with his claws when he'd been younger and less than careful, so its spongy filling kept poking out. Another was colourful, rubbery and squeaked when he pressed it. He'd loved that one the best at one point, but now he found the sound too shrill for his ears. The third was heavy, but it was shiny silver and rattled in a very interesting way when he rolled it. The fourth was black with tiny lightbulbs built in, which flashed out different colours when he slammed it against the floor. The fifth was his current favourite. It was a violently bright shade of green, soft and warm to his touch, and buzzed gently in his hands when he pressed a button. He liked to press it against his chest and feel it softly hum against his heartbeat. That was the one he wanted now.  
_

_He reached for it and hugged it to his chest, kneeling down._ 'Two minutes. Two minutes and I'll put it back, lock up, and throw the key over to Gax. He'll think that he's dropped it.' _He pressed the button and closed his eyes. The vibrations over his chest and underneath his jawbone were gentle and soothing and he wondered if maybe he could take his toy with him when he went to his buyers. He opened his eyes and saw with dismay that his time was nearly up, but it was still a whole minute longer than last time, so he tried not to mind too much. He pressed the button again to turn it off and pressed his cheek to the warm, soft material the ball was made of. Regretfully, he placed his ball back inside the cupboard, locked it, turned left to go to the satchet drawer and that was when he caught sight of something in his peripheral vision. He looked up, hoping that he was wrong, but sure enough, there stood his creator, his arms crossed, giving 89P13 a deeply unimpressed look. Not knowing what else to do, 89P13 held out the key and quietly said; "I found this."_

_Gax snatched the key back and reattached it to the ring. "Oh, you_ found _it, did you? There I was, thinking that you'd stolen it, but you_ found _it. Silly me."_

_Now 89P13 was unimpressed. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Gax."_

_"So was your lie." Gax said and he grabbed 89P13 before he could try to run. "You know perfectly well that stealing isn't tolerated in this lab-"_

_"I wasn't going to keep it! I just wanted to use it." 89P13 insisted as he was taken up into the air. "I was gonna give it back!" It wasn't a total lie. He had planned on returning it in a rather secretive way._

_"And you know that you can't play with the toys without permission! You won't be playing with toys for hours on end when your buyers finally get you, so you aren't allowed to do that here. You know that!"_

_"It was two minutes!" 89P13 snapped. "And I was bored, waitin' for you to take your sweet time typing up the notes!"_

_"You need to learn to be patient. What are you going to do when you find yourself waiting for a target, hmm? Are you going to whine and complain and steal in order to amuse yourself?"_

_"I wasn't waiting for a target, I was waiting for you! It isn't my fault that you're too much of a dumbass to type things without fucking up!"_

_"What did you just say?"_

_"And I didn't steal the key! When you steal things, you don't plan on giving them back!"_

_Gax glared at him. "Where did you get the key from?"_

_89P13 had a horrible suspicion that he knew where this was going. "From the ring."_

_"And where was the ring?"_

_"On a clip."_

_"And where was the clip?"_

_"You know damn well where the clip was, you asshole!"_

_"I want to hear it from you."_

_Either he got the inevitable whipping done with or he spent the next hour suspended above the floor while Gax waited for him to say where the clip had been attached. He rested a hand on each of Gax's thumbs and grumbled; "It was on your belt."_

_"And for some reason, that alone didn't serve as a deterrent to you." Gax said as he spun 89P13 to face the wall before setting him on his own feet. He seized 89P13's hands and dragged him forwards until the test subject's palms were pressed against the cold white metal of the walling. "I told you to be good for fifteen minutes and you weren't."_

_"You just told me to be quiet for_ fourteen _minutes and I was." 89P13 could hear the sound of leather scraping over cloth and barely suppressed a shiver of fear._

_"I could hear the toy humming." Gax was looping the belt, the leather snapping together, and 89P13 could hear it being done. "You weren't being quiet enough. When this is done, you're going to stay by the monitor until the notes are completed."_

_So Gax hadn't been finished. Just bad luck that he'd heard the toy and now felt like whipping the crap out of him. 89P13 looked down at his feet and felt the muscles in his back tense up._

_"Don't do that. You'll make it easier for your muscles to get damaged."_

_"Like you know what this is like-" There was a whooshing sound and fire seemed to explode over the middle of 89P13's back. He shrieked and had to use every bit of willpower he had to keep from jumping around._

_"How long did you play with the toy?"_

_"T-two minutes." If he lied and Gax found out, he'd end up losing the top layer of his skin. No way did he want that happening, not when he was already hurting so badly._

_"What's fifteen multiplied by two?"_

_89P13 didn't want to answer. He knew the correct answer, of course. So did Gax. The whooshing sound announced the arrival of another lash and he screamed when it landed across his shoulders. "Thirty! It's thirty!"_

_Gax pushed him forward so his chest touched the cold solidity of the lab walls. "Thirty strikes it is."_

* * *

"I don't know if you bought Groot enough toys, Rock."

Rocket took his eyes off of Groot who was eagerly playing around with the holographic projector which showed up pictures of things that most kids found interesting. Brightly coloured insects. Monsters. Royalty. Weirdoes in capes. "Don't be a douchebag, Quill."

"I didn't mean that it's a bad thing, I just don't think he's going to have enough time to play with them all before he's fully grown again."

"Don't start talkin' about that just yet, Quill. He's not grown yet and his species don't even hit adulthood until they're about six years old." Come to think of it, did Flora Colossi even have a full height? The sapling's father had been nine feet and counting. Supposedly, there had been others of the species even larger than that. "Some of us didn't get to play around when we were kids." There was a rule for Groot; 'play all the hell you want'.

"Sorry." Quill said softly.

"Why?"

Groot came over, dragging the projector with him. "I am Groot!" 'Dad, look!'

Rocket did just that, even though he'd been shown the 'magic' countless times already. "Did you show Mantis?" She would probably love it more than Groot did. If nothing else, at least Rocket wouldn't have to fake admiration for the next hour or so.

Groot scooped up the tiny machine and ran away with it, narrowly managing to avoid running into Drax's shins. "I am Groot!" 'Watch your fuckin' step!' he scolded, before running out of sight, barely leaving a sound as his feet hit the floor.

" Groot!" Rocket stepped after him, but there was no use. Small as he was, Groot was way faster than he was. And, if Rocket was being strictly truthful, Groot had probably gotten those charming words from him.

"Nice." Quill said. His voice was serious, but he was smirking like an asshole. "What a sweet thing to hear out of the mouth of our baby."

He really had to try to discuss language again with Groot. Too bad that 'no cussing' hadn't been a lab rule. "Kids."

Pete shook his head a little. "Let me try talking to him this time."

"Let's just hope you have better luck than I did." Rocket said. The more time he spent as a parent, the more he wondered two things. One was how the hell Gavaar had expected him to remember and abide by all 50 lab rules when Groot could barely remember the one rule he had. The second was how Rocket had managed to break maybe two or three a day on average, rather than ten or twenty. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see green leather. He looked at the Empath and stepped back as she crouched down before him. "What do you want?"

"Look what I found!"

' Found' might well have been an accurate description because Rocket didn't remember seeing Mantis going to the till to pay for the fuzzy brightly coloured things she was holding in her hands. "Why don't you show 'em to Groot?"

"I did. He liked his and ran away with it."

Now Mantis wanted his attention, just as he'd thought he was going to be free. He never had a moment of peace on this ship with these lunatics. "What are these things?"

Mantis offered him her hands, full as they were. "They're meant to help soothe people's pains."

"Yeah?" Rocket looked at the fluffy circles in Mantis' hands and, at her quiet insistence, took one at random. It was a warm, deep pink shade and he felt as if he'd touched something similar once before. He squeezed it and that was when he felt it. A button. It was a humball, like he'd known in the lab and his chest squeezed painfully at the memory, even though the humball had been his favourite toy. "I'm too old for these things," he said, determined to believe it. Accepting a humball was out of the question, considering the last place he'd had access to one.

"But I'm older than you and I have one."

'Dammit, woman, when did you get so smart?' Rocket looked at the humbal in his hand and pressed the button again to make it stop buzzing against his palm, even though he really wanted to press it to his chest and feel it mimic his heartbeat. He looked at the others gathered in her hands and pointed at them. "But you don't just have one."

"Oh, no. I got one for everyone." Mantis held up a garishly bright blue one and explained; "This one's for Nebula when we see her again."

Rocket hoped that he was there when she gave Nebula hers. "Where are you going to keep them when we're done?"

Mantis looked confused. "When you're done?"

" Yeah, when we're finished holding 'em."

"Puppy, you don't need to return it."

Now Rocket was confused. Then he thought of Groot and his toys. The sapling was the only one who used them, as the toys had been bought specifically for him to use and get enjoyment out of. And, just so long as he didn't bring them to the dinner table or left them lying around for people to fall over, he could use them when he felt like it. "Oh." he said quietly. "Okay." He supposed that meant there were no time limits either, but he didn't want to risk Mantis pitying him. "Thanks for the humball."

Mantis smiled. "You're welcome," she said, springing to her feet. "I didn't know their names."

Rocket shrugged. "I had one," he mumbled, making room for the new one in one of his pouches.

"You did? What happened to it?"

Rocket jolted, unable to keep himself from shaking a little. He didn't want to think about what had happened to it. "It...it don't matter. I like this one better." It wasn't a lie. The new one was an unprompted gift from Mantis. The old one had been a testing device for his touch sensitivity. "I'll see you later."

* * *

_Stop looking at the toy cupboard."  
_

_"I tried to stop lookin' at you, but you wouldn't have it."  
_

_"Do you need another thirty lashes?"  
_

_"I swear to God, if you even try it, I'll fuck up your notes like I did that one time."  
_

_"Put your hands on this keyboard and I'll break them."  
_

_In response, 89P13 put just one finger on the keyboard, just above one of the keys.  
_

_"You're treading a thin line." Gax warned and he slapped away 89P13's hand. The screen suddenly turned blank and he swore; violent, ugly words 89P13 hadn't heard before._ _"You little brat, you fucking erased it!"_

_"If you hadn't hit me, that wouldn't have happened!" 89P13 pointed out. "You pushed my hand down when you hit it and now that's happened!"  
_

_Gax glowered at him. He stood swiftly, looked at 89P13 for several terrifying seconds and turned, going to the toy cupboard.  
_

_The door was unlocked and, as 89P13 struggled to his feet in spite of the pain from the bleeding lines over his back, he saw the balls being taken out, still in their box. And then, to his horror, they were taken over to the disposal unit. "No! Don't throw them out!" First went the squashy ball. Even though 89P13 didn't really like it all that much, tears stung his eyes. As Gax took out the squeaky one, 89P13 knew that it would only be a matter of time until his favourite one followed the others and he jumped down, breaking into a painful run to try and save his toys. "Gax, please, don't throw them all out! I'm sorry about the notes, I didn't mean for them to get deleted! It was an accident!"  
_

_Gax looked at him and wordlessly reached for the third one, sliding it into the disposal unit without breaking eye contact.  
_

_"Please, don't throw them away! I'll take another thirty!" No luck and, as the third one vanished, 89P13 grew desperate. "Sixty! I'll take sixty lashes!"  
_

_"You'd bleed to death." Gax said calmly and down went 89P13's fourth toy. He picked up the fluffy humball and said; "this is your favourite one, isn't it?"  
_

_"Don't throw it out, please." 89P13 whispered. He clung to his creator's leg with his tiny fists gripping the rough fabric hanging around the Aakon's ankles. "Gax, please. Please don't. Please." He couldn't lose his humball. It hurt enough that he'd lost the rest of his toys, but the humball was special.  
_

_Gax looked at him, then glanced at the humball. Then, casually, he tossed it down the disposal unit.  
_

_89P13's brain struggled at first to take the new information in. Then, when it finally sunk in that, yes, his beloved humball was gone, he was suddenly furious and screaming like a crazy person. Ugly curse words like Gax had used, mainly. He understood, a little, how he was Gax's main target when his creator was angry with something because all he wanted to do was hit something. "BRING IT BACK!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I WANT MY HUMBALL!"  
_

_"You didn't buy it!"  
_

_"BRING IT BACK! BRING IT BACK NOW!"  
_

_"It's not coming back! Stop throwing this ridiculous tantrum and-"  
_

_89P13 couldn't stop himself. He slashed through the fabric of his creator's pants' leg and felt his claws enbed into the flesh of his calf. He was fucked now and he knew he was f_ _ucked, but he still dug in, feeling warm blood gather around his fingertips._

_Gax, somehow, didn't react much other than a grunt of discomfort and bent to extract 89P13's claws from his leg. "What is wrong with you?" he asked irritably.  
_

_"I WANT MY HUMBALL! YOU BASTARD, I HOPE YOU DIE! I HOPE YOU GET A REALLY NASTY DISEASE AND DIE!" 89P13 roared and he tried to swipe at Gax's neck. "I HATE YOU!"  
_

_"_ _89P13," Gax said coldly as he managed to hold both of the test subject's hands inside each of his own. "I warned you, didn't I, what would happen if you touched the keyboard?"_

_Through the mist of his rage, 89P13 felt dread coil around his throat. He kicked pointlessly as he was taken up into the air again. It was clear by the look on Gax's face that he was absolutely going to follow through on his earlier threat. "When my buyers get me, I'll tell 'em. I'll tell 'em all the bad things you've done to me and they'll kill you."_

_"They won't care." Gax said certainly and he began crushing the hands he held until the bones cracked._

* * *

"Easy, Rock. You're having a nightmare..."

Something fuzzy and familiar was pressed into his hand and in his panic, he hurled it far away. There was a thunk and someone complained, but it was only when Drax's hands helped him to sit up, that he opened his eyes again. He was trembling so much that the bunk was shaking and the air was caught in his lungs. His hands hurt even though they were no longer broken. His back hurt, even though the belt marks were long gone and healed. Everything hurt. And then Pete held his hands and Drax rubbed over his back and things stopped hurting so badly.

Gamora crouched down between Quill and Drax. "We thought you were being attacked." Her tone was gentle, even light, trying to make him think they were idiots for assuming it.

Thing was, she wasn't wrong. "I was."

"You were saying his name a lot." Gamora said and there was no disguising the care she took when saying those words.

He probably had been. He looked at his hands, so vulnerable and still so safe in Quill's. "What else what I sayin'?"

They all exchanged looks. "You kept saying something about toys. Your toys."

"It was stupid." Rocket mumbled. He felt ridiculous saying it, but it came out anyway. "I had these toy balls for testing out my senses on when I was _really_ young. He kept them because he could use them as a reward if he didn't have any grapes on him. I liked playing with them. He was doing the notes one day and I found the key to the place they were kept and busted out my favourite ball when he wasn't lookin'. I didn't play with it for long, but he caught me. He...he was not happy with me." He'd been hit everywhere from just below his shoulders to just above his knees. Nothing unusual except for the fact that it had been such a high number. He noticed their lack of surprise and rolled his eyes. "'Course you guys probably know all about that."

"We guessed." Quill admitted, looking guilty. "Some of the things you were saying...It kinda made sense."

"Yeah, well. Gax made me stay by him so he could finish the notes and I kept looking at the place he kept the toys in. 'Course, the bastard noticed and said he'd whip me again if I didn't stop lookin' at it. I said I'd fuck up his notes if he did and put my hand on the keyboard to mess with him. Then he knocked my hand away and the notes all vanished." Rocket looked at his hands. "I didn't mean it when I said I would fuck his notes up. If he hadn't hit me, my hand never would have hit that 'delete' button. But it did. And then Gax threw away all of my balls."

Drax scowled. So much for not caring.

"I was so pissed with him. I was screamin' all kinds of disgusting things, telling him that I hoped he would die...I even scratched him." Rocket surveyed his claws. "That really pissed him off."

"I guess you had a humball in the lab before, huh?"

"Yeah. It was green. Never liked the colour, but it felt nice."

"Okay. And this one," Gamora held it back out to him. "Is completely different. The only people to have touched it recently are Mantis, me and you. The colour definitely isn't the same. Anything else?"

"Yeah, it feels softer."

"There you go." Pete found the button and pressed it so the humming started up again. "All yours. You can do whatever the hell you want with it, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't throw it at my face again."

"Can't make any promises, Pete."

Quill touched behind his ears. "And you definitely aren't too old for playing with one of those things. People of all ages use 'em."

Rocket looked at Drax. "Is this true?"

"Yes. Humballs are very good for stress relief. People normally place them to their foreheads or spines."

Groot didn't have any muscles to ache. Yet he definitely had a humball. Rocket shifted a little. "I know you think I spoil Groot. I just want him to enjoy this part of his life, you know?"

"We know." Gamora said. "Of course we know."

"You know, Groot's about half the size I was when Gavaar had me." Rocket pressed the humball close to his external collarbone. "I keep forgetting how little I was." He leant his jawbone into the softness of the ball. "The Kree must have really fucked him up." And they were the people Gavaar had intended to hand him over to when he was finally finished. "I wonder how many rules he had to follow."

"The Kree are a militarial people." Gamora told him. "To them, slaves are considered the lowest of the low."

Rocket wondered what he would have been considered and shivered. Some things didn't bear thinking about.

Drax rubbed around his shoulders, mistaking his anxiety for coldness. "You don't need to worry about the humball. It's yours. You can do what you want with it when you want. Nobody will force it away from you."

"I know it's stupid. The toys I had were mostly cheap crap-"

"Not at all. They were precious to you and he knew that."

They had been special, even the squashy ball. "Yeah, well, he always knew how to hit where it hurt the most. The Kree taught him that pretty well." Which was, in itself, pretty sad. But Rocket hadn't deserved it any more than the little kid Gavaar had been once. "Goddammit, he should have known better. He should've known."

Drax smoothed between his ears. "We all know." _  
_

_'Yeah.'_ Rocket felt his tense shoulders drop as they finally relaxed. ' _You sure do.'  
_

 


	10. Rules 15, 17, 46 & 48

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
**~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
**~~3) No lying.~~  **   
**~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**  
**6) No drinking shower water.**  
**~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
**8) No animalistic posturing.**  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
**~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
**~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
~~**17) No being difficult.** ~~  
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
**19) No escape attempts.**  
**~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
**23) No wandering off.**  
**~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
**26) No refusal of punishment.**  
**27) No hiding.**  
**~~28) No playing.~~  **   
**~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
**~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
~~**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.** ~~  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
**~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
~~**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
**42) No begging.**  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
**44) No lock picking.**  
~~**45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
~~**46) No backchat.** ~~  
~~**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.** ~~  
~~**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.** ~~  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
~~**50) No asking for anything.** ~~

 

 

_"Ugh. What's she doing here?" 89P13 muttered, eyeing the young Mobian with disgust. Gold eyes looked into his and he scowled. He didn't know much about Lesa, the orange-skinned woman who tortured his new friend nearly as much as Gax tortured him, but what he did know was that she hurt Groot. And he really didn't like that. "She's nearly as much of a dick as you."_

_"I didn't raise you to be impolite."_

_"You didn't raise me to not be impolite either."_

_"Don't talk back!" Gax warned._

_"You should skin the little beast when you're done." Lesa said, baring her teeth in a sadistic smile. "On Mobius, we eat things like this alive."_

_"That explains your fat ass."_

_"Will you both leave each other alone?" Gax asked, glaring at them both. "I've had enough of this nonsense. The two of you are getting on my nerves."_

_"And you're both getting on mine." 89P13 said. Two pairs of eyes, one hazel and one gold settled on him and he crossed his arms, glaring back. "Just sayin'."_

_"I don't know where you get this attitude from, I really don't. It stops now. You understand me?"_

_"It'll stop when she fucks off back to Mobius."_

_"Oh, good god."_

_"You don't like her either!" 89P13 helpfully reminded his creator. "Yesterday, you called her an incompetent piece of work!"_

_Lesa turned her head sharply to stare at Gax, who looked unflinchingly back at her. "Gax!"_

_"What? You can be an incompetent piece of work."_

_Lesa huffed irritably and glowered down at her feet. "I'd never have this on Mobius."_

_89P13 was finding the entire exchange very amusing. "So, why don't you go back there? As a bonus, you can take Gax with you."_

_"If he's going to call me names, I don't think I will."_

_"Don't be ridiculous. I'm certain that you say worse things about me."_

_"Yeah." 89P13 said sweetly. "The day before yesterday, she called you a lower lifeform from a lesser world."_

_"You're a mine of valuable information." Gax said drily._

_"I liked it."_

_"I'll bet you did." Gax said and he pulled 89P13's ear. "I'm only going to say this once; stop interrupting, stop being rude, and stop being an almighty pain in the neck. I don't care who's here, I will punish you. Do you understand?"_

_It was humiliating enough to be warned in front of Lesa. 89P13 nodded his head, trying to dislodge his creator's fingers. "Okay, I'll knock it off. You can let go now."_

_"Good because I have more important things to do than deal with you._

_"Me, too." 89P13 dared to breathe. By luck, Gax didn't seem to have heard him. But 89P13 had forgotten their visitor with her literally pointed ears._

_Lesa gasped. "It just said 'fuck you'!" The gleam in her eyes told 89P13 that she knew exactly what kind of a lie she was telling._

_"No, I didn't!" 89P13 insisted as his creator slowly fixed him with a cold stare. "Gax, I didn't say that!"_

_"I find that difficult to believe."_

_"She's the one lying, not me!"_

_"I have no reason to lie, 89P13. Why would I do that?"_

_"Why? Because you're a sadistic, power-trippin' asshole, that's why." 89P13 stepped back as Gax stepped closer. "I didn't say it, okay? Why would I say that after what you just said?"_

_"Why? Because you're a disrespectful, insolent little brat, that's why."_

_"So you really don't believe me, do you?" 89P13 asked his creator. Behind Gax he could see a little gap between the basin unit and the mostly-empty toy cupboard. He had a plan and that plan involved not getting beaten with the tazerstick Gax was reaching for with one hand._

_"No." the Aakon said calmly. "I don't."_

_'If I'm gonna get the time, might as well do the crime.' 89P13 thought to himself. He looked from the Mobian to the Aakon with wide eyes and said; "Fuck. You. Both." They looked at him. He, not wanting to stick around for the inevitable, ran from where he was stood by the monitor, jumped to the floor and sprinted to the small space, meaning to hide in there until they both calmed down. He barely managed to get himself inside when he was caught up and a hand reached in, wanting to grab him. It was bright orange in colour and he scratched it violently, making Lesa scream as blood spurted from her skin._

_"Oww! Gax, look what it just did! You should rip its claws out!"_

_89P13 sincerely hoped that Gax wouldn't do that and bunched his hands into fists to protect his claws from any potential attacks._

_"Lesa, don't be so primitive."_

_"The little rodent scratched me!"_

_"The little rodent will do it again if you try to touch him one more time!" 89P13 warned her._

_"Get out here this second, 89P13. You know how easily I can get you out of there."_

_"She lied!" 89P13 insisted. "I didn't say it!"_

_"We just heard you say it." Gax said._

_"I meant the first time!"_

_"And I told you that I believe that you did say it. Lesa has no reason to lie."_

_"Assholes like her always have a reason to lie."_

_Gax huffed. "Get out here. Now!"_

_"How's about you shove that tazerstick up both your dickholes?"_

_Lesa made a sound of both fury and horror._

_There was a blue ball of light and 89P13 shrieked as the electricity coursed through his body. "I'm not comin' out!" Gax tried again, the setting higher, the pain worse, but 89P13 didn't like to think what would happen to him if they got their brightly-coloured hands on him. The next thing he knew, part of his protection was torn away as Gax turned the cupboard over, revealing 89P13 to the taller pair. Before the test subject could run, he was grabbed by the collar and dragged to the basin unit, struggling furiously._

_"Gax, I didn't do it! I didn't say it, I swear!"_

_"You're not going to make this any better on yourself by lying." Lesa said, a smug smile playing at the corner of her lips._

_"Gax, I didn't do it!" It was useless and he knew it, but he kept trying in the hope that maybe the Aakon might just believe him. "I didn't lie!"_

_"If you don't stop your lying, it'll only be more painful." Gax said as he forced 89P13 to his knees, pinning his hands behind his head. "Stay exactly where you are. If you move, you get extra."_

_89P13 could see the look in Lesa's eyes. She was looking forward to it. 'I ain't gonna cry or scream, so you might as well quit smilin'." he thought. He closed his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek as the first strike caught over the middle of his back. It hurt. His eyes stung, so he closed them, his fingers gripping the fur on the back of his neck. He didn't open them again for fear of letting her see the kind of pain he was in, but as his flesh was broken down by the repeated strikes, he couldn't stop cries turning into howls. He didn't need to open his eyes to see the enjoyment on Lesa Barounn's face._

* * *

His back hurt the way it did all those years ago. Not because some asshole had forced him to kneel down and take a beating. It was a case of slightly poor timing and a very powerful bomb during their last mission. His own dumb fault, in any case. He'd thought that he'd managed to keep his sore back a secret until Quill noticed a tiny smudge of blood Rocket had missed in the shower. Only two people onboard the ship had red blood - him and Pete. Quill had known that the blood wasn't his, which led him to make the correct assumption that Rocket was the culprit. Which then went on to lead to the conversation he was currently having with Gamora.

"I know you've been bleeding," the Zen-Whoberian said gently as she took a seat by him. "Rocket, I've seen your back many times. Won't you let me see it now?"

Rocket looked at her hair. Black and magenta, different from the multiple midnight-blue braids of Lesa Barounn, but still. He could pinpoint his current pain to an exact memory and it wasn't a memory he liked. "It's fine. I can handle a little blood." He was lying and he was certain that she knew he was lying, but the last thing he wanted was to have his back on display to someone, even if it was Gamora.

"The mission was nearly two weeks ago." Gamora reminded him. "I know you won't like hearing this, but you need to get it helped."

"It's fine!" Rocket snapped.

"I don't think you've been able to see what's happened to yourself." Gamora said and she didn't know how right she was. Rocket was finding it difficult to turn his body around to look in the mirror to assess the damage for himself. "If you could, I'm sure you wouldn't be bleeding any more. If you have any open wounds, they could grow diseased."

"I can't believe that you and that stupid Terran are getting all freaked out over a little blood!"

"Is it just a little blood?" Gamora asked, her eyebrow slightly raised.

No. It wasn't enough to worry, but it was enough that Rocket was frequently surprised by how much there was. But he wasn't going to tell her that. "I don't know what your personal definition would be about that."

Gamora's eyes turned hard. "Rocket."

"What?"

"Don't go there."

"So quit goin' on about my back. If I tell you, it's fine, guess what? It's fine!"

Gamora stood, scraping her chair back. "If you change your mind, you know where I'll be."

"I won't." Rocket said, but she ignored him. Probably for the best. Last thing he wanted was to get in a fight with Gamora. He blinked and there in front of his eyes was Drax. He almost jumped and stared at him. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"The corridor." Drax answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "I wondered if you might like your fur brushed."

Rocket was very glad that Gamora wasn't around to hear that. He was fine with Drax knowing, but the last thing he wanted was for the entire ship to know that he enjoyed having his fur brushed like some dumb cat. All the same, he nodded his agreement and, wanting to save his back from any further pains, let Drax pull him onto his shoulder for a lift. Drax even ducked a little as he walked so Rocket could avoid bumping his head on the doorways. For a man with a considerable lack in subtlety, Drax could be very thoughtful. As they entered Drax's cabin, he could smell the scar oil with its comforting Drax scent and felt tension leave his shoulders. It would have been soothing if he didn't realise that dried blood was sticking his flesh to his clothes. Gingerly, he climbed down from his perch and tried both sitting and kneeling, but both pulled at the little cuts by his implants, so he lay down instead, thankful for the thick backplate he wore. He had once owned two, but the other had been shattered to pieces in the mission and he hadn't managed to replace it. The world of clothing was not catered for someone his size.

Drax petted his ears while he singlehandedly found the brush and started smoothing the soft bristles over the back of his head. It was very soothing and, as Rocket rested his head on his hands, the brushing stopped. "I want to discuss an issue."

"So do I. You stopped brushin' me and I didn't want you to." Right at the best part too. What a jerk.

"Please." Drax pressed and Rocket begrudgingly nodded his head. "Quill informed me that you're wounded."

 _'Fucking Terran.'_ "It's a little blood. I can handle it."

"I know you can, but it isn't healthy for skin to bleed for weeks."

"Drax, it's on my back. Nobody touches it!"

"I am not asking to touch it." Drax said. "It must be painful. It's no mystery why you don't want it to be touched and it won't be. Not without your permission."

"I don't want to talk about it either." Rocket said pointedly. 

"Is it not painful?"

"Drax! I said I don't want to talk about it, so leave it alone!"

There was quiet, broken only by the sound of a large, grey hand comfortingly brushing its palm against the back of Rocket's neck. He put his head on his hands and, when Drax said nothing about it, shifted nearer to the man until only several inches of air separated them. Everything was peaceful until Drax removed his hand without permission (again) and cleared his throat. "It will become infected if it isn't already."

"Oh, god _dammit_ , Drax!"

"It will! It has gone on for long enough, Rocket. You need to give it the attention it needs."

"It doesn't need attention! Nothing needs attention! Get back to brushin' me!"

Drax sighed. Heavily. "Let me look at it."

"What?"

"Your back. I won't touch anything, but I want to see it."

Rocket shook his head, edging away. Drax didn't try to stop him, maybe knowing that he would only get scratched if he tried anything. "Don't you even think of tellin' me what to do!"

"Rocket-"

"I told you fuckin' 'no', and I meant it!" It was sore, but he got to his feet anyway, even though he knew that he was standing funny. "I said 'no'." Of course, his refusal had never been listened to before. Maybe it wasn't a surprise that it was being ignored now. "I don't want anyone to see it."

"I don't understand why. We've seen it before. Gamora often helps you with the metalwork if it's damaged."

"It isn't that. It's...it's because it hurts like I got a beating."

Drax nodded. "It would. You were thrown at least twenty feet from the explosion." As Rocket allowed him to touch his shoulder, he added; "It was only by good fortune that you weren't seriously wounded."

Rocket's ears lowered in shame at the memory of Lesa and the damage her lie had caused. He would never get around the subject of his current hurt. Drax was worried - and maybe he had a point - so the matter wouldn't be dropped until they reached some kind of mutual understanding. Rocket scratched his forearm and breathed deeply. "Groot had a Mobian scientist called Lesa. She studied the habits of rare, endangered species and Groot was the last of his kind, so Gavaar let her play around with him. She was...she was really bad. Not as bad as Gavaar, but close. As you can imagine, she and I really didn't like each other."

"Did she hurt you?"

Rocket shuffled his feet and looked anywhere but Drax's eyes. "Nah, no one dared hurt me with Gavaar around and even Lesa wasn't stupid enough to try it. She, um...she told a lie once and it got me in trouble and...and...he...he didn't wait for her to leave before he-" He could still see her smirking, hiding laughter behind her hands as blood had begun to trickle down his back from the beating she had caused. He swallowed against a hard lump in his throat. "She laughed at me."

"No one will mock you for getting hurt." Drax murmured. "No one at all."

"It wasn't the beatin'. Lesa liked to see me in pain. She probably jerked off at night, thinkin' about it."

"Rocket," Drax said gently. "That woman was a sadist who seized any opportunity she had if it could cause suffering to another being. Nobody on this ship is anything like that. Certainly not Gamora."

"It's going to hurt to take the jumpsuit off so people can see what the cuts look like." Rocket tried to sound matter-of-fact about it, but the thought of the pain worried him and he was sure Drax knew it did. 'And I was such an ass to Gamora that she'll probably smile, too.'

"You're more than welcome to hold my hand if you need it." Drax brushed a fingertip over Rocket's knuckles as if to demonstrate and offered a friendly smile. "I'm sorry for causing you any concern."

"'S okay." Rocket shrugged, and he didn't step back when Drax ruffled the fur on his head. "Just don't go givin' me any more orders."

"Unless it's a matter of life or death, I won't." Drax said. "I promise."

Rocket thought about that and agreed with a nod. Drax could be counted on to keep a promise, if nothing else. He waited to see if Drax would be pissed with him for anything, but as usual there was nothing. He really could say anything to the man, within reason, and Drax wouldn't so much as blink his eyes to indicate that it upset him.  He looked into the soft blue of the man's eyes. "I don't want to show my back to people any more than once."

"Then you don't have to."

Rocket grabbed Drax's wrist and pulled ineffectively. "Come on," he said semi-begrudgingly. "Let's go find Gamora."

* * *

_On Halfworld, the air grew humid and sticky. Still damp. But at least it was warm. If Gakhsi closed his eyes and pretended, it was almost like being outside on a winter's day on his homeworld. He could feel the communicator buzz against his skin and ignored it, even though he knew the Master would want a reply soon. 'Thirty seconds," he promised, even though the Master was countless miles away. 'Just thirty seconds.'_

Twenty nine.

Twenty eight.

_"Hey!"_

_Gakhsi jumped out of his thoughts. His eyes met two circles of gold and he wondered which cruel deity had sent him Lesa for company. "Don't Mobians ever sleep?"_

Twenty two.

Twenty one.

_"I thought your people were friendly?"_

_Gakhsi shoved his hands into his pockets, gripping around the communicator tightly. "I'm not here to make friends." Fifteen seconds left, like some sick joke._

_"That's a pity." Lesa purred, leaving barely an inch between her and him as she slid a finger from his collarbone downward. "I think you and I would make good friends."_

_For the first time, Gakhsi wished that he was back on Hala, away from bright orange women who squealed like little girls at the slightest provocation. He stepped away from Lesa, keeping a healthy distance between them. "I don't." He didn't care for the remaining ten seconds any longer. He just wanted to find somewhere quiet and speak to his Master and put all thoughts of the Mobian's wandering hands out of his mind._

_"Doesn't it feel good?" Lesa asked, her voice soft. "Doesn't it feel good to hear them scream?"_

_Gakhsi moved his eyes to meet hers. He had only ever seen such a look in bitches who were ready to breed. His muscles tensed, keeping him entirely still. "You_ were _lying about 89P13, weren't you? He didn't say anything, did he?"_

_Lesa shrugged, smiling. "I wanted to see what you would do."_

_Gakhsi ignored the second buzzing of the communicator. It buzzed again, continuously. The Master wanted to speak with him, but even the potential of the Kree's wrath wasn't enough to distract Gakhsi from the Mobian. He let her come closer and grabbed one of her thick braids, coiling it around her throat. "Two things I feel that you need to know about my little test subject," he said as Lesa scratched futilely at his hand, gasping and desparate for air, "is that I don't appreciate it when people cause harm to my weapon in progress. I don't want him to feel that he can't trust me to protect him from harm that he can't protect himself from." It was the same as the war-dogs. If they thought that their alpha couldn't protect them, they would tear the dog apart and fight amongst each other for a new alpha to lead and protect. Gakhsi had been an 'alpha' for five years. Now the 'pack' was small, but the rules still stood. One day, 89P13 would be able to defend himself, but not yet. Definitely not yet._

_Lesa gurgled, her attempts to free herself growing weaker. Choking sounds barely escaped her airways._

_"And the other thing is that even though he's a weapon  he's still young and his brain is still developing. He has the developing mind of an exceptionally intelligent child. If you seriously enjoy a child's pain, you are sick, even by your people's standards." Lesa's eyes were fluttering, so he loosened his hold and leaned in so he could talk into her ear. "And two things you need to know about me."_

_Weakly, the Mobian looked at him._

_"I'm sixteen years old." Maybe he was as sick as she was, but he somewhat enjoyed the horror in her eyes as she realised that she had been trying to flirt with a teenager. "Seventeen in about four months' time, actually. I can see you didn't realise that. It's good to see that you do have some standards."_

_Lesa coughed and gripped onto his wrist. Confusion filled her eyes._

_"It's none of your business how I got here, but I will tell you this. You are going to want to hurt me for what I'm doing now. I'm warning you now, I used to fight Kree war-dogs and_ win. _If I was you, I'd stay away."_

_Lesa nodded and squeaked as he tightened the hold again._

_"If you_ ever _go near 89P13 again, I will allow him to do whatever the hell he wants to you. Are we understood?" One thing was certain - if 89P13 found out that Gakhsi knew the truth, he would never hear the end of it. He could practically hear the future weapon say;_ 'I told you so, Gax!'. _No, he couldn't tell him. The best he could really do was use his cell tech to heal the hurt so 89P13 wouldn't be limping around in pain for something he hadn't even done. Although it wouldn't surprise Gakhsi if 89P13 had been thinking something rude. He probably had deserved some of it._

_Lesa closed her eyes and barely managed to nod her head. As he released her, she grabbed around her neck and hurried indoors._

_As the Mobian ran, Gakhsi took the communicator out of his pocket. It appeared that he had missed another call whilst talking with Lesa. He walked away from the buildings, toward the ruins of the water-lab and stepped onto the warped metal that remained of the old lab where water Uplifts had been made and modified. There were stairs leading downward into an old hallway where the smell of salt filled the air. Sitting on a step, he waited for several seconds and pressed the button to accept the call. He looked downward as the Master's form appeared and waited for the Kree to speak._

_"Do you finally have time for me, Fifteen?"_

_"Yes, Master."_

_"The next time this happens, I'll revoke our deal and somebody else can finish what you've started."_

_That was unthinkable. 89P13 was his ticket to freedom. "It won't."_

_"It had better not, boy."_

_First, he'd beaten his little test subject for nothing, then Lesa had tried to put her hand where it wasn't wanted and now the Master was pissed with him. This was not turning out to be a very successful day. "I didn't want to displease you, Master." It was the closest thing to an apology that he could give. The Kree people didn't care much for apologies, he had learned that quickly. Some slaves begged, some said nothing at all in hopes of avoiding further trouble and some became defiant. All three were ways to really aggravate the Master. "What must I do?"_

_"Can you relocate your own joints?"_

_It had been nearly three years since he'd last had anything dislocated for an infraction. "I can for the digits."_

_"Do you have a dominant hand?"_

_Silently, Gakhsi held up his left hand._

_"Leave the thumb and index finger. Dislocate the rest."_

* * *

"Done."

His back did feel a lot better, now it had been properly washed of blood. It hadn't been so bad, really. Just a matter of clearing around the wounds which hadn't been so big, but kept bleeding due to friction caused by his clothes, some topical medication and a suggestion to wear clothing that wasn't so tight across his back. Ideally, Gamora had said, no shirt would be best, but the most important thing was to keep air circulating. "You're the best."

"What am I?" Drax asked, having patiently allowed Rocket to almost snap his fingers in half during the entire procedure.

"You're okay."

Gamora coughed, but didn't bother hiding her smile. "Thanks for keeping still," she said, lightly squeezing his shoulder. She looked a little surprised when he reached up for her, hugging around her neck carefully, but she didn't try to move away or tell him to let go.

"I shouldn't have started sayin' that crap," Rocket said quietly into the green shell of her ear. "Sorry."

"Forget it." Gamora said it lightly, but there was a slight edge to her voice. She wasn't mad or he would know, but she definitely wanted it forgotten.

"Sure there isn't anythin' I can do?"

"You let me help you with your back. That's enough." Gamora rubbed his shoulders with her palms and eased his arms from her neck. "If you need any more help, I'll be around."

"Yeah, me too." Rocket said as the Zen-Whoberian left. One day, he would return the favour. He didn't know when, but he would.

"You have considerable strength for such a small being." Drax remarked, flexing his fingers.

"I know a way to make 'em hurt less."

"And what way is this?"

Rocket pointed at his own head. It didn't take Drax long to get the message and he sat by him, resting his head on the man's knee. "See?" he said. "Better already."


	11. Rules 26 & 42

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
**~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
**~~3) No lying.~~  **   
**~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**  
**6) No drinking shower water.**  
**~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
**8) No animalistic posturing.**  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
**~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
**~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
~~**17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
**19) No escape attempts.**  
**~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
**23) No wandering off.**  
**~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
~~**26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
**27) No hiding.**  
**~~28) No playing.~~  **   
**~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
**~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
~~**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
**~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
~~**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
~~**42) No begging.**~~  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
**44) No lock picking.**  
~~**45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
~~**46) No backchat.**  ~~  
~~**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
~~**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
~~**50) No asking for anything.**~~

_Six years & five months ago _

**HALFWORLD**

****_"Explain to me," Gax said, shutting the simulation device off. "How your ability to shoot has worsened."_

_"It has not." 89P13 said, plucking the plastic wires from out of his skin where his head, arm and body movements had been tracked. "So I missed out on a couple targets. What's the problem?"_

_"A couple? You missed out on 18% of your targets and that is-"_

_"Not acceptable, bla bla bla bla."_

_"You won't be saying that when you find yourself in trouble with your buyers. You were doing so well yesterday. What changed today?"_

_89P13 gestured helplessly to the machine. "It's not like the other simulation."_

_"No? Well, guess what, each task your buyers set for you will be different. You can't use that as an excuse!"_

_"You don't get it." 89P13 couldn't see very well through the dark goggles his creator had pushed onto his face. He pulled them off, feeling the cool glass compress his fingertips. "I'd see a target and it'd be really small and then it would kinda...grow."_

_"What do you mean, grow? All the targets can do is run toward you."_

_"No, they grew. Got real big."_

_Gax was quiet in thought for several seconds and then crossed his arms. "This isn't funny, 89P13. You know perfectly well how distance and eyesight works."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Gax pointed to the furthest wall. "Go stand over there. Now..." he stepped back until he was a distance of eight feet away from his little test subject. "See?"_

_89P13 didn't know what he was meant to see. "See what?"_

_Gax's shoulders tensed. "Stop fooling around. This isn't funny."_

_"Gax, see what? All I see is you standin' by a wall!"_

_Gax took several steps forward, until he reached the middle of the room. "Come here."_

_Oh, no. 89P13 knew that look. "I'm not goin' anywhere near you! That's your 'I want to beat you' face!"_

_"Come here now!"_

_89P13 pressed against the wall as if it could make him disappear if he applied enough pressure to it. "No."_

_"No?" Gax asked softly. "Are you trying to refuse?"_

_"Gax, I don't know what I've done!"_

_"Don't you dare lie to me!"_

_"I'm not!"_

_"Come here!"_

_"No!"_

_"Do you know what will happen if I have to come and get you myself?"_

_"I didn't do anything!" 89P13 insisted. "Why are you angry with me?" He couldn't think what he'd done, aside from the admittedly low score on the simulation, but Gax had never gotten angry enough to beat him over a low score before, preferring to make use out of the surgery room instead._

_"For the love of the gods!" Gax hissed and he stormed over, looking much larger, not too dissimilar to the targets 89P13 had missed. "When I tell you to do something, you fucking do it, you do not refuse me anything - ever!"_

_"Don't touch me! Don't fucking touch me!"_

_"Don't you curse at me!"_

_"Leave me alone! I don't deserve to be punished!"_

_"I'm the one who decides if you deserve something or not!"_

_89P13 cowered down on the floor, curling himself into a ball to try and make it difficult for Gax to pick him up. The Aakon didn't care too much, though. He simply pushed 89P13 forwards, causing him to sprawl. The test subject tried to get up, only to be knocked back down again. "Don't!"_

_"Keep still!" Gax warned and 89P13 could hear the tazerstick. Out of fearful desperation, he turned onto his back, catching the tazerstick before it could strike him. Frightened amber eyes met incredulous hazel. Then, Gax said softly; "Let that go."_

_"No. No, no, no."_

_"89P13, let it go!"_

_"I can't! I've gone too far-"_

_"No denying that, but if you let that go, it won't be as bad. Remember what else this can do."_

_"Gax, please, listen to me. I don't know what I did! Is it the score? What is it?"_

_"You know what it is."_

_"I don't!"_

_Gax looked coldly into his eyes and pressed the red button at the side, making electricity jolt through 89P13's body. "I told you to let it go and you chose not to. Get back on your front."_

_"Gax, please! Please don't hurt me! I didn't do anything bad this time, please don't hurt me!"_

_"Enough! You know it's not acceptable to beg like a common dog!"_

_"I didn't do anything!" 89P13 repeated. "I didn't do anything!"_

_"You're really telling me that you don't know how big or small things can appear from a distance?"_

_"Yes!" 89P13 wailed. "I don't know!"_

_"You're lying!"_

_"I'm not!" 89P13 insisted tearfully. "I'm not, I swear. I'm not.." He was interrupted by a strike to his ribs, hard enough to bruise the skin underneath his thin fur. He coughed weakly and turned over. He still didn't understand why Gax was so angry and, as the beating started, he knew that he never would._

* * *

It was unusual to not have Quill on the ship. He'd taken Kraglin and a small pod out to meet Ogord's faction about a possible job the Ravager captain needed help with and, at the last possible second, Groot had insisted that he join too. Now, it was utterly, deathly silent on the ship, bar the sounds of the engines and the noises that came from the other three people on the ship with Rocket.  
It was perhaps a little dickish to say, but he was somewhat glad that Quill was momentarily gone. Now he was out of the picture until the following morning, Rocket could do whatever the hell he wanted with the ship. And, for the past fortnight, he had felt like borrowing some wires that he knew to be useless for the ship.

"What are you doing?"

Rocket looked up from the thin slab of metal he was welding back onto the ship wall and met Gamora's eyes. "What's it look like?"

"It looks like you're taking apart the ship now that Peter isn't here to stop you."

"I'm not taking it apart! I'm taking out its little extras so I can make 'em useful."

"You can't do that!"

"But I did do that." And now he had a decent amount of wiring he could use. Good thing too, he'd been running low.

"You know that it's wrong!"

"Oh, come on!"

Gamora was not impressed. "What if you touched a live wire and killed yourself?"

"You sound like Pete."

Gamora crossed her arms over her chest. "You just lost your turn on dish duty."

"Heh. You even sound like him." It took Rocket four seconds to realise that the serious, 'I-am-not-kidding' look on her face hadn't gone anywhere. "You're serious? What the hell, you can't tell me what to do!"

"If Peter was here, he'd be saying the exact same thing-"

"You're not Quill!"

"No, but you know what would happen if he was here."

"You're not Quill!"

"No, but you know what would happen if he was here."

Rocket pointed at her. "You ain't Quill!"

Gamora was about to answer when her attention was taken away by something - or someone - standing behind Rocket. His first thought was that it was going to be Quill, back early from his visit to Ogord, but it wasn't him. It was the only other male on the ship, aside from Rocket. Drax looked at Gamora and then at Rocket. "I heard yelling."

"Yeah, 'cause _she's_ being unreasonable!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"What's going on?" Drax interrupted. "All this noise is alarming Mantis."

Even the thought of upsetting Mantis was barely enough to calm Rocket's annoyance at Gamora. "She banned me from dish duty!"

Drax looked at Gamora. "Why?"

"Because _someone_ was ripping apart the ship again."

"Who?"

Gamora sighed and pointed her thumb at Rocket. "Him!"

"Oh." Drax said. He nodded. "That does seem reasonable."

"What the fuck?!"

"Thank you." Gamora said, walking to the doorway Drax had come through. "I'll go see Mantis."

Rocket glared at Drax. "You bastard!"

Drax looked confused. "My parents were wed at the time of my conception."

"You know damn fuckin' well what I meant, you big, bald bastard!"

"Rocket-"

"You were meant to stick up for me against her and you didn't!"

"I couldn't defend you because there was no defense."

"You backstabbin' son of a bitch! Both of you!"

"All Gamora is doing is holding you accountable in Quill's stead."

"She can go fuck herself." At Drax's frank look of disapproval, he crossed his arms. "You're just as bad as she is! And you know what, I don't have to listen to her! I do what I fuckin' want!"

Drax kept shifting, as if he wanted to step forward, but was trying hard to stop himself. "I know you're angry, but please listen-"

"I don't fuckin' care about that!"

"Rocket-"

"And I don't have to listen to you, neither. You're not my father!"

Drax looked utterly blank for several moments. He seemed to almost deflate and dropped to one knee, one hand on the floor to keep his balance. "I know I'm not," he said with lowered eyes. "But neither was he."

Rocket swallowed. "Don't know who you're talking about," he muttered.

"That tyrant who harmed you."

"He's got nothin' to do with this! This is about-"

"Rocket, I've seen you getting arrested, I've seen you beset upon by criminals and I've seen you in physical alterations with stronger and larger creatures. Those things don't worry you any more than it would worry one of us."

"So?"

"So, each time Quill finds out that you've taken apart something best left alone, you fight him when he removes you from your favoured duty." Drax looked him dead in the eyes. "Did you fight against the scientist?"

Rocket felt something tremor through his entire being. "I can't believe you just asked me that, you-"

"Did you?" Drax asked patiently.

Rocket thought back to the day he'd grabbed onto the tazerstick and refused to let go. He swallowed again, trying to dislodge something that felt hard in his throat. "Yeah."

"Why did you fight against him?"

"Drax! Why the hell do you think?"

"Why?"

"You know why." Rocket couldn't stop himself from pressing a hand against his side, even though it hadn't hurt for years. "He hurt me."

"He was cruel to you."

"I know. Why are we talking about this?" Rocket asked bitterly. "I hate talking about this."

"Because it's important." Drax said gently. "Quill doesn't remove favoured duties on a whim. Neither does Gamora."

"She didn't have any right to-"

"She did." Drax brought his other knee down until he was kneeling properly, now at eye-height with Rocket. "It's common for family members to hold each other accountable when another does something wrong. You did something that you knew to be wrong and Gamora held you accountable."

Rocket looked back at Drax. He tilted his head. "This is a family thing?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"I was raised in one for many years." Drax said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "As were most of the others." He appeared to almost reach out for him, but stopped himself. "In a family, whatever happens, whenever you do something wrong, the goal is not to make you utterly miserable, the goal is to help you remember that you aren't allowed to do certain things."

"That doesn't make sense." When Drax looked at him with surprise in his eyes, Rocket tried to explain. "When you punish someone, they're meant to be miserable."

"He didn't punish you. He tortured you and expected you to willingly accept it. The ways in which you were held accountable were wrong. Badly wrong." This time, Drax did reach for him, the movement as slow and as delicate as the man could make it. "Being disallowed from dish duty isn't a punishment."

"Then what the hell is it?" Rocket stepped forward to let Drax touch his shoulder with his fingertips. The care of his rich was very soothing.

"It's a...a teaching measure." Drax said after several seconds of thought. 

"Did you just make that up?"

"Yes, but that's still what it is." Drax said seriously, his hand soothing away all the tension Rocket had felt in his shoulders. "You're clever, but you still have much to learn."

"Not as much as you."

"You're probably right." Drax agreed, bringing himself closer with a shuffling movement. "I think it might help you to remember that it isn't the ship we worry about when you remove things from it. It's you. We worry about you."

_'Rocket, that's sparking onto your fur, man!'_

_'What if you touched a live wire and killed yourself?'_

Not a single word about the ship from either of them. It was him that they worried about, not some stupid rule. He felt Drax lightly pull him closer and put his head on the man's shoulder, thankful that there was no one around to think he'd gone soft. "Chances are I'm gonna break the rule again."

"Mmm." Drax nodded. "That is a possibility."

"I'll try to remember what you said."

Drax smiled. "Good."

* * *

_Six years & five months ago _

**HALFWORLD**

_"Why has its average accuracy gone from 99% to 82%?"_

_Gakhsi had hoped that maybe the Master would overlook this detail. Of course the Kree didn't. It was stupid to even hope for. "He was taken by surprise from the new layout of the simulation."_

_"How?"_

_"The targets behave differently."_

_"The targets it didn't reach were the ones that appeared to run to and from it. Does it believe that targets in real life will stay still for it to kill?"_

_"No. He...he got confused and made mistakes. He won't do it again." Gakhsi hoped not. He really, really hoped not._

_The Master was silent, his dark purple eyes stark against his pale blue skin. "There's something you aren't telling me. What is it?"_

_If he didn't tell the Master, he would only find out for himself at a later time. "Something he said to me. He said that he didn't understand how size works in relation to eyesight. How things that are far away can be larger up close and how large things can seem small from far away."_

_"I thought you said it was intelligent."_

_"He is. He was probably making it up as an excuse for the poorer performance."_

_"And if it wasn't?"_

_"If he wasn't making it up, I can fix the issue he has."_

_"As we are speaking of issues, I have one with your calling the weapon 'him'. It doesn't matter what it has between its legs, it is a weapon. You'll grow attached if you keep calling it 'him'."_

_"All 89P13 is worth to me is my freedom." Gakhsi said as irately as he dared._

_"Is that the truth, boy?"_

_"I have never lied to you before, Master. I wouldn't be stupid enough to start now."_

_The Master seemed satisfied with that answer. "Stop calling it by its gender."_

_"I will." To the Master anyway._

_"Fifteen, I won't accept anything less than perfection from the weapons at my disposal. The machines, the dogs, all have to be perfect. This is my first Uplifted weapon. It must be perfect."_

_"Why did you choose me to do it?" He was a sixteen year old dog-trainer, not a doctor. Surgeries before Halfworld had been cutting the dogs open for them to give birth. Now he was performing delicate brain surgeries and, at the beginning, had needed to read from books as he'd gone along. It should have been a Kree who knew what they were doing. It really shouldn't have been him._

_"Because I knew you could and you did. Fix the problem with 89P13 if it presents itself again."_

_At least one of them had had faith in him at the start. "If it does, I will."_

_"And if the issue continues, euthanise it and I'll find another beast for you to Uplift and weaponise."_

_Gakhsi looked down at his feet. This was what he'd been afraid of. "Euthanise it."_

_"You have your notes to go from, don't you?"_

_"It just seems a waste to kill hi- it after all this time."_

_"It's been ten months, not ten years. It's more wasteful to attempt to perfect something permanently flawed than to get rid of it." The Master was nearly ready to disconnect the call. Gakhsi could tell by the way he was sat, his wide shoulders tensed. "Besides, you've killed an_ adult _of its kind before, when it needed to be done. You've never hesitated to do what's needed to be done. Do you hesitate now?"_

_"No, Master." But that didn't mean he had any intention of killing 89P13. That was not something he could easily do, even after all the problems the future weapon was giving him. "As you say, whatever needs to be done will be done."_

_"It had better be."_

'It will.' _Gakhsi thought as the holograph disappeared._ 'Even if I have to go against your orders to do it.'

* * *

"Do you think he's still mad?"

Drax shrugged, handing Gamora the recently-cleaned plate to dry. "I don't know. Why?"

Gamora looked at the plate she was gripping in the towel she was using to dry. It was a little too damp for Drax's liking, but Gamora seemed to think it worked well enough. "He didn't come to dinner."

"He said he wasn't hungry."

Gamora set the plate to one side and accepted a spoon. "Do you believe that?"

"No." Drax admitted. He knew better than to pry when Rocket had recently been angry about something, though. "But he'll come out when he's ready to come out." There was, after all, nothing more dangerous than trying to force Rocket into doing something.

"What if he's scared of me?"

Drax laughed and laughed until he saw the look on her face. He still found it funny, but knew better than to keep laughing at her. "Why would he be afraid of you?"

"Because he didn't come out for dinner."

"He does that at least three times in a week." Drax reminded her. "I'll bet he's distracted by a new weapon he's making. There is no chance that he's frightened of you." Gamora was clearly unconvinced. He patted her shoulder. "Quill takes away his favoured duty too, and Rocket is certainly unafraid of him."

"I guess you're right." Gamora gave him the stack of plates to put in the higher cupboard and threw the spoons into the cutlery drawer. She leaned back against the counter and looked up at him with serious dark eyes. "Was he mad with you?"

"Mostly he was angry with the situation." Watching the slighly greyed water swirl down the drain, he felt his shoulders tense. "It was his belief that a negative consequence is there solely to provide suffering."

"Drax-"

"It _infuriates_ me."

Now Gamora was touching his shoulder. "I know," she said, her voice urgent. "I know."

"All those years I found my way into Kree territory and I never-"

Gamora's fist caught his shoulder. "Don't." she warned, pointing a finger at him in warning. "Don't let yourself go there."

"I would have stopped it. I should have stopped it."

"You didn't know."

Drax followed Gamora's gaze to the doorway. Hunger had clearly bested Rocket for there he stood, his own eyes flitting toward the tureen which still stood on the stove. "I didn't realise you were there."

Rocket rolled his eyes and tilted his head up to look at Gamora. "You're an idiot if you seriously think there's anything about you that scares me."

There were several things about Gamora that scared Drax, but he didn't dare mention them with her present. He took off the lid from the tureen. Inside, the food looked less than appetising and he grimaced lightly to himself.

"I don't want nothin' spicy." Rocket said and he went to the snack cupboard.

The food had been somewhat overseasoned, now Drax thought about it. Mantis had probably been too eager with the flavourings again.

Whatever Rocket wanted, a full meal wasn't it. All he wanted were his Cotaci berries and a jelly pot. Undoubtedly Quill's influence, considering the man ate like a toddler. He offered Gamora one of the berries, appearing innocent enough, but for the badly-hidden smile of anticipation.

"This is an attempt at payback and I'm not falling for it." Gamora said, but it was clear that she now knew that her previous worries had no grounds.

"Dammit."

Gamora smiled and when she reached to touch his shoulder, Rocket quickly turned his head to briefly press his cheek against her hand. "Night," she said softly and she walked out, her footsteps growing silent.

* * *

  _Five months later_

**HALFWORLD**

 

_This wasn't possible. It wasn't possible, so Rocket kept telling himself. But whatever he thought of its possibility, there was absolutely no denying the signs of life he'd overlooked while searching with his family and what had been ten other Ravagers. Had he really overlooked the scorching heat of the facility? Or had he tried desperately to ignore those signs so he could pretend that the one person he feared most in the entire universe was dead? It didn't matter now what he thought. Six Ravagers were dead. Aleta was out for blood. Gavaar's blood. He held his gun even tighter in his hands and looked up to make sure Drax was still there. Of all the Guardians, it was Drax who hated Gavaar most. With him, it was safest. "Drax."_

_Blue eyes moved down to look into his amber. Usually there was a warmth in them, but now he had the look of a man who wanted someone dead. "Yes?"_

_"Please stay with me." Something flashed in the corner of Rocket's eye and he could smell something sizzling. He flinched. Quill, Kraglin, Gamora, they all knew traps given their past vocations, but Drax had never used a trap before. Any traps he'd found himself in, he had managed to fight himself out of. But not these kind. The ones Gavaar had set were the kind that set out to kill. "Please."_

_Drax didn't argue. He didn't even look annoyed by it, even though he had probably been hoping to search for Gavaar in order to murder him. "Of course. I won't let him near you."_


	12. Rules 5 & 6

 

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
 ** ~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
 ** ~~3) No lying.~~  **   
 ** ~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
 ~~ **5) Subject to be clean at all times.**~~  
 ~~ **6) No drinking shower water.**~~  
 ** ~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
 **8) No animalistic posturing.**  
 ** ~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
 **10) No drinking without permission.**  
 ** ~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
 ** ~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
 **13) No licking body clean.**  
 **14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
 ** ~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
 ** ~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
 ~~ **17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
 ** ~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
 **19) No escape attempts.**  
 ** ~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
 **21) No breakages.**  
 **22) Get enough sleep.**  
 **23) No wandering off.**  
 ** ~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
 ** ~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
 ~~ **26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
 **27) No hiding.**  
 ** ~~28) No playing.~~  **   
 ** ~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
 ** ~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
 **31) No spitting.**  
 **32) No hitting.**  
 ~~ **33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
 **34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
 **35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
 **36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
 ** ~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
 **38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
 ~~ **39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
 **40) No being distracted.**  
 **41) No screaming.**  
 ~~ **42) No begging.**~~  
 **43) No wasting of resources.**  
 **44) No lock picking.**  
 ~~ **45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
 ~~ **46) No backchat.**  ~~  
 ~~ **47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
 ~~ **48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
 **49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
 ~~ **50) No asking for anything.**~~

 

_"Can't I have one more run?"_

_"I know you enjoy the obstacle course, but it's gotten to the point that you can't possibly improve your timing. You don't need another turn and it's getting late."_

_"But, Gax-" 89P13 was cut off as one of the tiny red grapes was placed into his mouth without warning. A reward for the good timing. The bitter drop of juice suddenly brought his thirst to life and he looked longingly at the water bottle in his cage. "Can I have a drink?"_

_"You need to be fed first." Gax said._

_"I can't eat. I need to drink something."_

_"And I told you that you need to be fed before you can have a drink." Gax picked him from the ground and went to the drawer where the food satchets were kept. "Unless you_ want _to go to bed without your meal."_

_Of course 89P13 wanted no such thing. He glowered up at his creator and bit down hard on the nozzle of the satchet as it was pressed against his mouth, wishing that it was some sensitive part of the Aakon's anatomy. As soon as he had managed to swallow down the last of the thick paste, he pointed at the place where other water bottles were kept. "Can I have a drink now?"_

_"You haven't had your shower yet."_

_"Are you fucking serious? I'm not asking for much!"_

_"I can easily take your water away and I will if you don't behave yourself."_

_"I need water!"_

_"You can wait."_

_"The shower can wait."_

_Gax set him down rather roughly onto the unit beside the basin. "You do not give the orders around here, I do. It's part of your routine to have a shower before you go to sleep."_

_"Fuck the routine. I don't remember agreeing to it."_

_"I don't remember you having a problem with it before," Gax said, conveniently forgetting all the times 89P13 had insisted that he didn't want to go in his cage or that his skin was too sore for a shower. "You're just being a pain in the ass because you want another turn on the obstacle course."_

_"I never mentioned the fuckin' course!"_

_"And you'd better not mention it again. Get in the basin."_

_"Give me water."_

_"Get in the basin now."_

_"Give me water now."_

_Gax grabbed his arm, twisting it until it almost popped out of its socket. "Who gives the orders around here?"_

_89P13's arm hurt, but he refused to let Gax win. "Me."_

_Gax released his arm and twisted his ear instead, lifting him so he could only stand on the tips of his toes. "Who give the orders?"_

_"Me!"_

_"Who?"_

_It was no good. He couldn't refuse Gax any longer, the pain was too bad. "You."_

_"That's right." Gax agreed and he dropped 89P13 back to his feet, delivering a sharp hit to the back of the test subject's leg. "Get in the basin before I lose my temper."_

_"Can we negotiate?"_

_"Now!"_

_Resentfully, 89P13 slid into the basin, the soles of his feet instantly freezing as they came into contact with the cold grey metal. They weren't cold for much longer, though, as warm water soon gushed through the shower head and wettened his fur to the underlayer._

_"You know where the soap is. Make sure to wash behind your ears and don't forget your tail."_

_89P13 watched him go to where the obstacle course had been laid out. He had a little time to turn the temperature lower until it was the lukewarm he preferred to the almost-but-not-quite hot water Gax wanted him to use. He was still thirsty and as he reached up for the soap and began scrubbing his arms and legs, he hit upon a sudden realisation. He had access to water. Gax had always said that drinking shower water was unacceptable in polite company, but how would he even know? 89P13 flicked out his tongue. The water was too warm for drinking, but it helped the dryness of 89P13's tongue and felt almost cleaner to drink than the bottled water he was given each day. Weird as it was, he felt that he preferred the shower water to the bottled stuff._

_"No! Stop that!"_

_89P13 jumped and began scrubbing vigorously behind his ears. "What's wrong, Gax?"_

_"What the hell do you think is wrong?" Gax demanded. "You do not drink out of shower water and you know that!"_

_"I wasn't!"_

_Gax folded his arms across his chest. "If you weren't, why were you sticking your tongue out into the water?"_

_"I was cleaning my...tongue?"_

_"Oh, good God."_

_89P13 scowled. "You have no right to be taking the moral fuckin' high ground here, Gax! I told you that I needed water and you decided to be a huge asshole and make me wait when you knew how dehydrated I got!"_

_"So this is my fault?"_

_"Well, it ain't mine!"_

_"All you had to do was wait twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and you could have had all the water you wanted. Instead, you refused to get in the shower and then blatantly broke Rule 6."_

_"Fuck Rule 6." 89P13 muttered._

_"I know you don't like the rules, but you still have to follow them. They're for your own good."_

_"They're not for my own good!" 89P13 spat. "They're for your convenience!"_

_"It hurts that you think that."_

_"Do you really think I give a fuck?"_

_"Unfortunately, no." Gax tapped the basin. "Sit down."_

_89P13 looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"_

_"Sit down and I'll show you."_

_89P13 didn't trust the look in his creator's eyes at all, but if he was being told to sit down, maybe it meant he wasn't getting a beating for once. The water was pooled on the bottom of the basin and he wriggled his toes at the sensation of the shower drops as they fell on his feet. "Don't burn me."_

_"I won't burn you." Gax said and he put his hand on the back of 89P13's head, keeping it in place no matter how he struggled. "You knew it was wrong to drink from the shower."_

_"I told you why I did it."_

_"You still knew it was wrong." Gax said and he made him look directly up at the ceiling. 89P13 could see him push a lever up, causing the pressure of the water to grow higher until the jets of water felt like needles pressing against 89P13's skin. "You know what happens when you do the wrong things."_

_89P13 felt his heartbeat quicken as Gax picked up the shower head and brought it closer to him. "No...no, don't do this. It'll kill me."_

_"No, it won't. It'll just make it a little harder to breathe."_

_"Don't!" 89P13 pled, but the shower head turned and he briefly saw a dark circle with tiny white dots before being blinded by the force of the water. It wasn't just hard to breathe. It was impossible and he choked as it got caught down his throat and went down his nose._

_"What's wrong?" his creator asked calmly. "I thought you enjoyed the taste of shower water."_

_89P13 struggled and writhed, but he couldn't get free. The claws on his feet scratched shrilly on the metal beneath them and just as his strength failed, the water disappeared. His legs wobbled and he would have fallen down if Gax hadn't lifted him out of the basin and onto a towel. He knew he should be drying himself, but his entire body jerked with terror and exhaustion and all he could do was cough._

_"That's better." Gax said, pulling him up to sit. He used the towel to roughly dry 89P13's shaking body and then grabbed under his arms. "Look at me."_

_All 89P13 could think to do was obey. He didn't want another go at drowning._

_"The next time you drink out of the shower, I'll take your water away."_

_'How is that helpful?' 89P13 thought._

_"And if you ever dare refuse a shower again, I'll do what I just did. And it'll be with hot water."_

_It had been bad enough with the lukewarm water. "I needed water, Gax..."_

_"I don't want to hear about it again." Gax snapped "You're lucky I'm not taking your water away."_

_He wanted to say more, but the water was too precious. All he could do was stay silent._

* * *

"Pete, if you ain't out of this shower in the next ten seconds, I'm gonna go in there and hop in with you!"

"Trust me, Rocket, you'd prefer not to." Kraglin said, passing by with a plate of spicebread. "He gets up to some nasty, nasty stuff in that shower."

"Oh, goddammit." Rocket grimaced, glared at the door and then up at Kraglin. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Get somethin' to eat." Kraglin advised. "Drax made his spicebread again."

Spicebread was nice. But whenever he had time and access for a shower, he had one. It was ingrained in him to keep clean, especially after all the warnings Gavaar had given him about ticks and fleas. Last thing he wanted was a little parasite crawling around over his body. "I'm gonna tell Groot where Quill's candy stash is hidden."

"He moved it."

Well, there went that plan. Rocket miserably made his way over to the kitchen area, his spirits lifted by the comforting smell. There was no sign of Drax, but there was the large tray, containing the spicebread which was still cooling down, going by the steam rising from it. He looked at his hands and then at the tray. Better to play it safe than burn his hands raw. He looked hopefully in the sink to see if there was anything he could wash up, but the dishwashing machine had clearly been used. The faucet hose dripped and he eased the coils until it stopped and then he focused on the sink. It was reasonably deep, the faucet could be moved around easily and there was hand-soap in reaching distance. Rocket looked into the basin intently and thought; 'I bet I could fit in there.'  
But it was a stupid thing to think, because for one thing, he was a grown adult and grown adults do not take baths in sinks. And for another, he had been tortured with water in a basin and it would probably give him flashbacks to go in one now.

But he needed a shower.

But he'd have to take off his clothes.

No, he wouldn't. It would be okay to wash the parts that weren't covered, for now.

Someone might come in and see.

But did it really matter if somebody did? He'd seen people brush their teeth over this very sink before.  
If he was quick, if he was smart about it, he could get clean and no one would have to know anything about it. He wasn't washing his feet in the sink, though. That would just be depraved. Rocket turned the tap and let the water turn barely warm before cupping it in a hand and splashing it over his forearm until it soaked to the underlayer of his fur.

"Did you burn yourself?"

Rocket jumped. Standing a few feet behind him was Drax, one hand in an oven mitt and the other holding a knife, presumably for the spicebread. "No."

"Then why are you throwing water on yourself?"

"Because I felt like it."

Drax nodded, placing the knife down. "Why do you feel like it?"

"Because a certain assmunch won't take any less than forty-five minutes while showerin'."

"But you showered this morning."

"I shower twice a day, when I can."

"I see."

Somehow, Rocket didn't think that he did see. He squirted the handsoap into his hand. It was too sweet for his liking and he rubbed it into the fur on his arm where it cloyed the strands into a thick lump. He didn't like it. He really didn't like it, but it was better than nothing. So he told himself. The faucet shut off, seemingly of its own accord and Rocket looked up at the man responsible for the water disappearing. "Why'd you do that?"

"Because it clearly made you unhappy." Drax offered him a clean dish towel and watched him roughly dry his arm. "Have you always showered twice a day?"

"Yeah." The first shower was more to wake him up than anything, Rocket had always thought. He'd be grabbed out of his cage, still half-asleep and sprayed with warm water until he told Gavaar that he wanted his morning meal. "So what?"

"Do you like to shower twice a day?"

Rocket thought about it. He did like the feeling of running water, but the lather and rinse was a serious pain in the ass. He shrugged. "Kinda. It's just something that I've always done and it never did me any harm."

Drax nodded. "There is no harm in it," he said. "But were you ever told of the natural oils in your fur?"  
When he'd been a lot smaller, he'd found a dry patch of skin on his thumb and had shown it to Gavaar. The Aakon had explained that the skin had dried out and, when asked further, had said something about how the skin needed to stay hydrated. That had been the day he'd learned that skin was a living organ. "What do you mean, natural oil in the fur? I'm not oily!"

"Fur and hair has its own natural protective oil to keep healthy, just like skin does."

"Bullshit. I was never told about this by anybody."

Drax reached out a hand for the dish towel and bunched it up in his large fist. "I don't suppose that you were told." He glanced down at his feet. "As much as I despise the scientist, he was of a naturally hairless race, so he couldn't have known about it."

Rocket pointed at Drax's head. "You're bald!" he reminded him. "So how the hell do you know about it?"

"As I told you, Hovat had hair."

And Kamaria had. It was her hairbrush Drax sometimes brushed Rocket's fur with of an evening. Now he looked down, feeling ashamed. He had forgotten that the brush was not his. "I forgot you told me that," he admitted.

"I thought you had." Drax said, without a trace of annoyance. "Yes, I do know some things about haircare."

"It's not a big deal if it gets dried out." He had no idea how it might feel if it did. It probably was already dried out, considering how regularly it was cleansed. "Drax, I have to shower twice a day."

"Maybe," Drax said thoughtfully, "you could forgo the soap once a day."

Rocket stared at him. Then he thought about it. It would mean he wouldn't go through so many supplies in a week. And it meant less soap in his eyes. "It could work," he said slowly. "There's just one thing I really don't get."

"What?"

"Why bald people keep giving me tips on fur maintenance."

Drax laughed. "I'm the only one who's correct," he reminded Rocket. "Do you want some of the spicebread?"

"Give me all of it, so Quill can't have any."

"That would be cruel." Drax gently admonished.

"It's his own damn fault for taking such long showers."

Drax huffed in amusement and took a step to the doorway. "I'll put the towel in the launder. Please leave some for Quill."

"You're no damn fun." Rocket grumbled, but he did as Drax asked of him. The spicebread was cool and he picked it up in his hands to eat it, rather than use a spoon like he usually did. It was more, well, spicy than normal and, as he licked his hands to get rid of the crumbs, he found himself panting. He needed water. Or booze. But Drax probably wouldn't appreciate it if he got drunk and threw up over the spicebread, so he decided to go for the water instead. The cups were in the high cupboard above the sink and he could hear a single drop spilling from the tap over and over again. He went to it, meaning to tighten the spigot and then retrieve a cup, but before he could stop himself, he put his head underneath the tap and caught the drops on his tongue. More water began coming from the tap, to his relief and he continued drinking it for some time until he realised that he had not been the one to increase the water supply.

"Are you finished? I can't fit anything else inside the dishwashing machine."

 _'When the hell,'_ Rocket wondered to himself, _'is Drax going to stop walking in on me when I'm doing stupid things?'_ "Sorry."

"There's no problem. I just wanted to soak the tray for several hours."

Rocket looked at the tap and then at Drax. "I meant for drinkin' out of there."

"Why? It's been through the filtration system, so you shouldn't get sick from it."

He didn't think it was weird? "It really doesn't bother you if people drink from there?"

"It's better to stay hydrated than to become dehydrated." Drax's face softened and he brushed his knuckles over Rocket's forearm. "If your thirst is gone, would you allow me to brush out your tangles?"

There weren't any tangles, but Rocket wasn't stupid enough to refuse an opportunity to have his fur brushed. He climbed onto the man's shoulder, watching as he filled the sink with warm water. "Thanks."

"What for?"

 _'Trust you to not know.'_ Rocket thought. He shrugged lightly. "It don't matter." He was pretty sure that one day, Drax would figure it out himself.


	13. Rules 19 & 44

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
 ** ~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
 ** ~~3) No lying.~~  **   
 ** ~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
 ~~ **5) Subject to be clean at all times.**~~  
 ~~ **6) No drinking shower water.**~~  
 ** ~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
 **8) No animalistic posturing.**  
 ** ~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
 **10) No drinking without permission.**  
 ** ~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
 ** ~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
 **13) No licking body clean.**  
 **14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
 ** ~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
 ** ~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
 ~~ **17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
 ** ~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
 ~~ **19) No escape attempts.**~~  
 ** ~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
 **21) No breakages.**  
 **22) Get enough sleep.**  
 **23) No wandering off.**  
 ** ~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
 ** ~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
 ~~ **26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
 **27) No hiding.**  
 ** ~~28) No playing.~~  **   
 ** ~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
 ** ~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
 **31) No spitting.**  
 **32) No hitting.**  
 ~~ **33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
 **34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
 **35) Use your voice when spoken to.**  
 **36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
 ** ~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
 **38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
 ~~ **39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
 **40) No being distracted.**  
 **41) No screaming.**  
 ~~ **42) No begging.**~~  
 **43) No wasting of resources.**  
 ~~ **44) No lock picking.**~~  
 ~~ **45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
 ~~ **46) No backchat.**  ~~  
 ~~ **47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
 ~~ **48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
 **49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
 ~~ **50) No asking for anything.**~~

 

_89P13 could see something out of the window. He jumped, trying to see what exactly he was looking at, but all he got were fleeting glimpses of lights streaking across the deep scarlet skies. He tried to climb the walls, but no luck. He was just about to give up on his endeavour to look outside when a pair of yellow hands grabbed him up unceremoniously. Hazel eyes met his amber. He looked into the confused eyes of his creator. "What?"_

_"Why were you jumping up and down like a little rocket ship?" Gax asked._

_"I could see things outside." 89P13 explained, pointing at the window._

_"What things?"_

_"Go to the window. I'll show you."_

_"I explained to you about stars and moons and other things, didn't I?"_

_"It's none of those things. Gax, come on! They might go away."_

_"I didn't realise you were in charge all of a sudden." Gax muttered, but he went to the window anyway, holding 89P13 by his hip. He nodded as he saw the lights. "Those are the supply ships."_

_"I thought ships were large."_

_"No, not these ones. They're small and plentiful, so if any bad people shoot them down, some food and equipment can still make it over here."_

_89P13 watched the bright, blinking lights as they descended. "Can I watch them land?"_

_"Yes, for now." Gax placed him on the windowsill. "Just don't do anything ridiculous like fall and break your skull."_

_"No, I meant, can I watch them land on the docking station?"_

_"I can't take you out there."_

_"Why not?" 89P13 asked._

_Gax gestured to the deep red skies outside of the labratory. "Do you know what it means when the sky grows dark?"_

_89P13 didn't appreciate the sarcasm. "You don't have to be a jackass, Gax."_

_Gax pulled at his ear sharply in warning. "Watch how you speak."_

_"Can't I go to bed later, just this once?"_

_"Oh, sure. And then the next time it'll be 'just this once' too."_

_"You're so unfair-"_

_"Do you want to watch the ships or not?"_

_He did want to watch the ships and he settled against the window, watching the tiny sparks in the distance fall to the surface, some even rising back up. He supposed that they needed to go back to the places the food and equipment came from for more supplies. His eyes followed an empty supply ship as it went up and then he noticed a smaller window with a latch attached. It was small, but maybe he could squeeze through if he tried his hardest. He jumped up, grabbing the latch and dangled for a second before securing himself to the latch by flexing his tiny arm around it. Then he noticed a problem. There was a lock and being a little test subject, he had no key with which to unlock it. Asking Gax for the key would just be asking for trouble and he didn't want that, if he could help it. He put one of his claws inside the lock and, after some wriggling, something turned. He'd done it! He opened up the tiny window and stuck his leg out into the night air. It was cold, but 89P13 thought that a little cold was a small price to pay for an hour or so of freedom. He looked over at where Gax was looking through some papers and edged his other leg through the window. The hinge of the window creaked and the Aakon glanced his direction, looked directly at him for what seemed like eternity to the little test subject and then looked back at the papers. 89P13 didn't believe his luck and began squeezing the rest of his body through the window before Gax could come to his senses._

_Gax suddenly whipped his head up. The look of disbelief in his eyes was nothing short of hilarious. "Stop where you are!"_

_"No! I'm going to the docking station!"_

_"Over my dead body! Get your ass in here!"_

_"No!" 89P13 retorted and he began manoevuring his shoulders out, too._

_Gax ran toward him and reached above him as 89P13 managed to get his shoulders out. He must have pulled the window down, for 89P13 was suddenly aware of a blinding pain across the back of his head and then everything turned black._

* * *

 In the years since, Rocket had picked many locks. What could he say? It was a useful skill. He worked best with little locks, ones he could put his claws inside until they clicked open. Large ones were much trickier, so he did his best to avoid them. He didn't often think of the rule against lockpicking, having needed to pick them in order to get himself and Groot out of prisons many times. He had needed to pick locks then. More often than not, he simply used a small explosive to take care of locks and, as there had been no 'no blowing shit up' rule, he thought nothing of it.

Today was different. Today he thought of the 'no lockpicking' rule as he watched Quill play around with a large cube, covered in multiple, tiny locks. The Terran was using a hairgrip of Gamora's as he attempted to open the largest lock on the cube, watched by Drax who was gleefully egging him on. "Come on, you son of a bitch, open..."

"What's that?" Rocket climbed onto the table to get a better look at the cube. "Looks weird."

"It's a locksquare." Quill said, which raised more questions than it answered.

"It is an item given to new Ravagers for them to learn how to pick at locks."

"Huh." Now that was interesting. "You don't seem to be doing so well there, Pete." Indeed, Rocket knew that he could do better.

"I don't? Why don't you take a shot at it, smartass?"

Rocket was about to accept the challenge when he felt a pain across the back of his head. He shook it. "I shouldn't." Whether it was an automatic response or what, he didn't know, but he felt like cursing himself for saying it. "I, uh, I mean..."

"There is no real benefit for you." Drax said, a spark in his eye. "A bet would make it much more interesting."

Rocket met his eyes, uncertain of whether Drax was actually okay with him picking at a lock or not. He happened to know that the man had some tiny locked jewellery boxes in his possession and had refused to attempt to look inside out of courtesy rather than fear. If he showed off his ability to lockpick now, would Drax stop trusting him? "You think it'd be okay?"

"Yes."

"You just like to watch people make asses of themselves." Quill grinned. "Okay, Rock, when it turns out that you can't do any better than I can, you gotta call me Star-Lord for the whole goddamn day."

Oh, it was on. "Fine, dipshit. When it turns out that I can do it so much better than you can, I get entire access to the Zune for the whole goddamn day."

"Deal." Quill pushed the cube toward him, grinning like an asshole. "Prove me wrong, Rock."

It was nothing. A movement of his finger and a small door of the cube opened, revealing a worthless copper coin. "There you go, Pete. What did I tell you?"

"I'm impressed. And, honestly, a little terrified. Zune tomorrow?"

"As long as I get it, yes."

Drax smiled, picking up the locksquare. "Remarkable," he said. Rocket didn't get the impression he was talking about the box itself. "There are two other doors on this item. Could you open them?"

"What's in it for me?"

"Pride and accomplishment."

"That ain't much."

Drax brushed his fingertips over Rocket's ear. "What would you like as a prize?"

'Prize' was a marginally better word than 'reward', Rocket thought. He considered all the things he wanted. Money was nice, but for once, he didn't want money. Food was great, but he wasn't hungry. Booze was a wondrous thing, but he had his own stuff. He scratched his forearm absently and suddenly hit upon an idea as his sensitive fingertips brushed over his own fur. "I want to have my fur brushed." It had, after all, been over 24 hours since he'd last had it done. 

"We have an agreement."

Rocket looked up at the giant. "Wait, what if I lose?"

"I don't consider it a possibility that you will lose."

"It's nice that you have faith in me." Rocket pulled the locksquare toward himself and began working on the lock. It was open within a minute and he found a larger, silver-plated coin inside. The other door was a little tricky, but he soon persuaded it to open and located a gold-plated coin, so big he could barely hold it in one hand. "There you go."

"I wish I had your skills." Drax said, helping him put the worthless metal pieces back where they came from. "There are box keys I lost throughout the years and I lack the finesse to break into the boxes as you could."

"I can teach you, if you want. Where are the boxes?"

Drax shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He smiled, the expression forced, and nodded his head at the doorway. "See if you can find the brush. I'll join you soon."

* * *

_89P13 hadn't been unconscious for long. Long enough to worry his creator, though. He knew Gax had been worried, he had seen it in the Aakon's eyes when he woke up. A night of observation and many head scans later and he had been deemed healthy. Now, he was just waiting for the inevitable. 89P13 knew that what he'd done - picking at the lock and then trying to escape - was bad. Very bad. He knew better than to hope that Gax might forget to punish him. The man was doing the very thing 89P13 hated and dreaded the most - making him wait until he grew anxious enough to bring it up by himself. As much as 89P13 hated being the one to broach the subject, it was twice as bad when Gax brought it up. He didn't have much time left, but he feared what would happen too much to say anything. He could smell warmth from somewhere by the surgery table. He knew he wasn't to be operated on today - there were no surgery tools, but he looked uneasily at the restraints and shivered at the cold underneath his body._

_The clock's hands informed them both that it was twenty minutes until 89P13 had his night meal. For the first time in 24 hours, Gax looked at him. He waited and when 89P13 shuffled back without a word, he rested his hands on the surgery table. "Nothing to say?"_

_"I was going to come back." 89P13 whispered._

_Gax took his hands off the table, his mouth thin with annoyance. "Do you know how tall you are?"_

_"Fourteen inches."_

_"That's right. You're just over a foot tall and weigh six pounds and two ounces. Your muscles are still developing, so you haven't reached full strength yet. You have sharp teeth and you have very sharp claws, but you can't draw much blood with them. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"_

_"I wasn't trying to find someone to fight-"_

_"Do you honestly think that you would have come back, had someone decided they wanted you?"_

_89P13 hadn't even considered the possibility that someone might have taken a shine to him. "I would have ran."_

_"What if they'd shot you? You're the only one of your kind. Your corpse alone would earn a lot."_

_"I didn't know-"_

_"You didn't think." Gax snapped. "You just acted on an impulse, like you always do!"_

_"I do not always act on impulse!"_

_"I genuinely can't think of a time when you haven't. You can't keep doing this! When you go to your buyers, you have to be obedient, you have to be exactly where you need to be, you have to listen to them. You can't go crawling through windows to get away from them!"_

_"You were the one who slammed it on my head!"_

_"I apologised for that!"_

_"No, you didn't!"_

_"I did!"_

_"When?"_

_"When you were asleep!"_

_89P13 got to his feet and pointed a tiny dark finger at the Aakon. "It's impossible to have a conversation with you! I'm done. I'm going back to Home."_

_"We're not finished."_

_"Oh, goddammit, just do what the fuck you want and get it over with."_

_"I just pulled an all-nighter taking care of you, you ungrateful brat." Gax reminded him irately. "You scared the daylights out of me when I saw half of you in here and the other half out of the window. If you'd made it, if you'd gotten to the landing bay, you could have been taken away, you could have been killed, you could have been torn apart for scrap, you could have been eaten...there are thousands of evil people out there, beyond this world. I don't want you falling into their hands. I never want you falling into their hands. I want you to be safe."_

_89P13 looked at Gax's eyes. It suddenly dawned that the man had been blinking a lot, especially in the last several hours. It explained why he hadn't looked at him as much. "I thought that you'd slept when I did."_

_"I couldn't do that. I was afraid you were dying."_

'Yeah, because I'm worth a lot of money to you.' _89P13 thought to himself. "And whose fault would that have been?"_

_"You shouldn't have broken that rule... but I admit I made a mistake. You know how much I value your brain, cunning as it is."_

_That was true. 89P13's head was the one part of his body that his creator handled with care. "Does that mean you won't punish me for trying to climb out the window?"_

_"On this occasion, I think both of our actions cancel the other out."_

_89P13 suspected that Gax was simply too tired to do anything. But he knew a get out of jail free card when he saw one and he wasn't going to do anything to lose it._

_"That being said, if you go anywhere near that window again, I'll make your soles bleed."_

_"I can't watch the rocket ships any more?"_

_"Ugh. Fine. If you go anywhere near that window - unless accompanied - again, I'll make your soles bleed. Are we understood, 89P13?"_

_It was better to accept it and go to bed relatively pain-free for once than to piss off his creator and get a beating. "Yeah, I understand."_

_Gax seemed satisfied with this answer and reached for him, lifting him from the table. He hesitated and looked into his eyes again. "I want you to outlast me. Yesterday, I thought you wouldn't."_

_"Why do you want that?" 89P13 asked. He had no idea why Gax wanted him to live so long. Weapons only lasted so long, after all._

_The Aakon held him steady with one arm, the other reaching for the door. "You'll understand when you're older."_

* * *

Now Rocket was older and he still didn't understand. He smoothed his palm over the bristles on Kamaria's brush absently as he waited. He kept looking over at the small box underneath the bunk Drax slept on. It had a similar design to the brush Rocket now held in his hands and he reached for the box, noticing its aged lock. No key, Drax had said. Yet, it rattled and he knew there was something inside. Something precious or Drax wouldn't have kept it. And he hadn't seen it in twenty years. He put the brush down, his nimble claws picking away at the tiny mechanisms until finally something clicked. He'd done it. Hadn't even been that hard. When Drax finally came in, he held up the box to show him what he'd done. "I fixed it."

Drax looked puzzled. "Fixed it?"

"Yeah. You can actually open it now."

Understanding shone in the warrior's eyes. He held out a hand for it and knelt, showing Rocket the back of the box. "The hinges are rusted," he said. "Should it be opened, the box would break in two pieces and the contents would be unprotected."

"But you haven't seen whatever's in here in twenty years."

"I have become used to it. It doesn't bother me that I can't see them. It's not always what we see that matters." Drax put the box back where Rocket had taken it from and got to his feet, sitting on his bed. When Rocket joined him, he placed his enormous hand over the mechanic's back, keeping his touch light. "I understand that you meant well and I appreciate the thought, but please don't play around with their things again."

"I wasn't playing." Rocket muttered. At least Drax wasn't pissed about it. "But...what about Kamaria's brush?"

"Oh, yes." Drax nodded. "You're right. Unless they're things you know that I don't mind being used, I would prefer if you ignored them." He reached for the hairbrush where Rocket had left it. "On the topic of Kamaria's brush, I did offer a prize and I have yet to deliver..."

Of course Rocket wanted his fur brushed. What idiot wouldn't? But he kept thinking of the box he'd nearly ruined. "Even after I picked the lock?"

"No harm was done." Drax said, guiding him a bit nearer. "And no harm was meant."

As the brush glided across his head, Rocket was quiet. "Drax?"

"Hmm?"

"What if the box had broken?"

"Mmm." Drax grumbled, but his gentle behaviour wasn't matching his tone. "I would simply need to find an alternative keeping place. Of course, I would prefer it if it remained unbroken."

"What's in it?"

"Our wedding bangles."

"What the hell are those?"

"A circle of metal worn around the wrist. On my planet, we receive them as wedding gifts from each other."

"Why don't you ever wear yours?"

"I'm widowed." Drax said softly. "In the event of a spouse dying, we remove our bangle and tattoo our skin as remembrance. Instead, we keep the bangles safe and take them into our graves after we perish."

"Yeah, well, you ain't going into any grave soon."

"I hope not." Drax smoothed behind Rocket's head until the purring started up again. "I understand if you can't speak of it, but were you taught how to pick locks?"

"No." Rocket focused on the nice touches, the feeling of the brush shining his fur. He couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Gavaar didn't know what to think when I did it for the first time. He'd gotten his keys locked into this drawer and was just about to give up, when I told him I could help. We both knew I wasn't strong enough to pull the drawer out by force, but he never missed an opportunity for me to practise problem-solving, so he let me try. I still remember the look on his face when I picked the lock open. He didn't know if he should have been happy or not!"

"Just good fortune that you can accomplish this feat." Drax said, a hint of a smile in his voice. "Did you do this often?"

"Well..." Rocket could feel his ears lower. "Gavaar didn't exactly approve of it. He said it was to be done in emergencies only and fitted an electronic lock where I slept so I couldn't escape at night. But, yeah, I did do it. Not a lot, but it happened."

"It's a skill worth knowing."

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Drax gave him the brush to hold and raked his fingertips through the fur behind Rocket's ears. "It's very well worth knowing."

* * *

 **Halfworld**  
_**Two months later** _

_"I see him!"_

_Aleta was spitting both blood and hatred. "Find him! He will suffer for our losses. Our ship will be painted inside and out with his blood!"_

_As much as Rocket wanted to see Aleta murder Gavaar, he couldn't follow the others. Instead, he stepped back, watching the Ravagers streak by, all screaming with rage and grief for the fallen ones. He felt someone's shin - Quill's - and looked up at him, not able to hide his fear. "Pete...I can't. I can't..."_

_"It's alright." Gamora lowered her eyes to meet his, though she gripped her swords tightly in her hands. "Go. It will be safer for you and you won't have to see Gavaar."_

_Mantis reached out her hand. "Come on, puppy. We need to go back to the mothership."_

_'What will he do if he sees me escaping?' Rocket looked into the distance where the figures of the Ravagers grew smaller. "If he finds out-"_

_"He won't. He'll be too dead to know." Kraglin said grimly. "We'll take care of 'im, you know that?" At Rocket's slight, but certain, nod, the Xandarian pointed to an empty pod. "Get your ass out of here. While you're at it, take Mantis with you.'_

_He had never left the Guardians in the middle of a fight. Never. He looked at them all, not sure if he should do as they said or not. Would they be angry later? "I can't."_

_"Rocket." Drax said calmly enough, despite the downright terrifying look in his eyes. "You can. And Gamora is right - it's much safer for you. Please, both of you, leave. Please."_

_Rocket could hear the desparation in Drax's tone. He let Mantis take his hand. "You'd all better come back."_

_"We will." Kraglin promised. "Now get outta here."_


	14. Rules 8, 16 & 35

 

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
 ** ~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
 ** ~~3) No lying.~~  **   
 ** ~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
 ~~ **5) Subject to be clean at all times.**~~  
 ~~ **6) No drinking shower water.**~~  
 ** ~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
 ~~ **8) No animalistic posturing.**~~  
 ** ~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
 **10) No drinking without permission.**  
 ** ~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
 ** ~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
 **13) No licking body clean.**  
 **14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
 ** ~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
 ** ~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
 ~~ **17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
 ** ~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
 ~~ **19) No escape attempts.**~~  
 ** ~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
 **21) No breakages.**  
 **22) Get enough sleep.**  
 **23) No wandering off.**  
 ** ~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
 ** ~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
 ~~ **26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
 **27) No hiding.**  
 ** ~~28) No playing.~~  **   
 ** ~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
 ** ~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
 **31) No spitting.**  
 **32) No hitting.**  
 ~~ **33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
 **34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
 ~~ **35) Use your voice when spoken to.**~~  
 **36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
 ** ~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
 **38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
 ~~ **39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
 **40) No being distracted.**  
 **41) No screaming.**  
 ~~ **42) No begging.**~~  
 **43) No wasting of resources.**  
 ~~ **44) No lock picking.**~~  
 ~~ **45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
 ~~ **46) No backchat.**  ~~  
 ~~ **47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
 ~~ **48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
 **49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
 ~~ **50) No asking for anything.**~~

 

_"Do you remember what I told you about the purpose of your fur?"_

_89P13 was still tired, but he knew Gax expected an answer and nodded his head. A crack across his thigh with the tazerstick made him cry out and he clutched his aching leg, glaring up at the Aakon._

_"What's Rule 35?"_

_"Use your fucking voice when fucking spoken to by your fuckface creator."_

_"Say the word 'fuck' again and I'll rip your fur out."_

_89P13 crossed his small arms. "I know what the fur is for. Warmth and protection. So what?"_

_"I want to test your durability in cold weather."_

_"I don't like the sound of that."_

_"All you have to do is go inside a little box-"_

_89P13 liked the sound of that even less._

_"-and stay in there for four hours per temperature change. There are only three possible temperatures."_

_"Twelve hours?" 89P13 repeated. "Twelve fu- twelve, ah, frickin' hours inside a tiny box?"_

_"I know it isn't very exciting, but at least it's easy. It's the lowest temperature that one of your buyers could survive in, and it needs to be determined if you could survive in it."_

_"What if I don't?"_

_"You will. I won't let you die."_

_"But it'll be cold."_

_"You'll be fine." Gax managed to secure 89P13 underneath his arm and walked out to the room where an obstacle course or stimulation device was usually set up. This time, there was a box with clear glass sides sitting in the middle of the floor._

_"Gax, why...why don't you go in it with me first, huh? Then I'll know it's safe."_

_"It's 2 feet wide and about three feet tall. How the hell could I fit in there?"_

_"Maybe if you curled up a little-"_

_Gax sighed and held him out at arm's length, looking into his eyes. "Sometimes, I wonder if you might be the most cowardly being in this universe."_

_"At least I ain't you."_

_Gax dropped him inside and secured a lid over the top. "Don't make this difficult for yourself."_

_There was an icy wind by 89P13's feet and he tried to walk away from it as cold filled the box. More cold covered his feet and he banged on the glass futilely as his small body began tremoring from shivers. 89P13 held his hands close to his chest, wrapping his fur around his now icy fingers. "Too cold."_

_"You're alright. It's at zero degrees to begin with."_

_"Begin with?" Was it about to get even colder? 89P13 edged closer to the glass wall. "Get me out."_

_"No. You have to stay in there."_

_"G-Gax..." 89P13's lower jaw was bobbing up and down, making his teeth chatter. "Out."_

_Gax met his eyes calmly. "After the first hour is up, the temperature goes down ten degrees. Fifty five minutes left."_

* * *

"Quill, your ideas have all been bad, but visiting Askla is your worst idea since you started thinkin'."

"How was I to know it was winter?" Quill protested, huddling his hands into his jacket. "Anyway, at least you got fur!"

"I wasn't built for this snow bullshit!"

"The fur suggests otherwise."

"It is inanimate. How could it suggest anything?"

At least one man was on his side. "Thanks, Drax."

"Askla has beautiful summers," Gamora said. She wasn't so badly affected by the cold, but even she wore longer sleeves to combat it. "But they last for twenty days and then we get...this." She gestured to the window, where sleet poured from the clouded skies. "We missed the summer."

"Ah, it ain't all that bad." Kraglin stretched his arms out, his hands covered by thick gloves. "Least we didn't miss it by much, just a couple days."

"I am Groot?" _'Why are you guys saying it's cold?'_

"Your body works different to ours." Rocket told him. "People like you don't react to temperature like the rest of us." The worst thing that would happen to Groot was that he might suddenly hibernate, as the others of his kind did on Planet X before the world was destroyed.

"We'll fill up the ship in the morning and head out for warmer climates." Quill said, his eyes softening as he looked at Groot. "Maybe then you'll quit whining that it's cold."

"Screw you, Quill."

"I just can't believe that a guy covered in fur literally everywhere is finding it worse than the rest of us."

 _'Yeah, well, you weren't shut in a goddamned icebox for hours as a kid.'_ Rocket bared his teeth in a savage smile. "There are several places I don't have fur, humie. My hands, my feet, my nose, my back, and my di-"

"Time for bed." Gamora interrupted, shooting Rocket a sharp look as she scooped Groot in her hands.

"I think I'll turn in." Kraglin got to his feet and stretched out his arms again, cracking his knuckles.

Drax acknowledged Kraglin with a nod of his head, but the giant apparently had more important things on his mind as he reached for Rocket's hands. "They are cold."

And that was how Rocket found himself with a very large handwarmer. He soon found that he could easily take his hands out of reach and then replace them with no repercussions, which made it a lot easier to relax. He did it several times just to mess with Drax and, when he finally got the feeling back in his fingers, took his hands out of Drax's. "You didn't have to do that."

"Better than you losing a digit in this cold."

"I guess." Rocket flexed his fingers and took one look at the sleetstorm outside before shivering. "That's the last time Pete chooses where we go."

"You love the rain, yet you hate the snow and slush."

"Rain isn't as cold as this."

Drax tilted his head in agreement. "That's certainly true."

Kraglin's footsteps clattered from beyond the doorway. "We need to share body heat. Where's Pete?"

"I don't like sharin'." Rocket muttered, but he pointed towards the kitchen area. "Look there."

"Mantis ain't doin' so well in this." Kraglin said quietly. "I don't think any of us are."

"Is she alright?" Drax asked.

"Just pale, cold and shiverin'. I don't think Empaths were made for the cold weather." Kraglin said and he walked past, his voice calling for Quill.

"I'd better see to Mantis." Drax stood from his seat, concern clear in his eyes. "You may want to stay. Your hands were ice-cold."

"Long as Mantis doesn't try pettin' me when I'm asleep."

"I'm sure she won't."

Rocket shifted until he was kneeling with his feet underneath himself. "I'm not."

* * *

_First it had been zero degrees, then -10, then -20. 89P13 had little pieces of white sticking to his eyelashes and he was so cold that he couldn't move. He was amazed he wasn't dead._

_Most of him wished that he was._

_"That turned out well, once you settled down and stopped whining at me to let you out." Gax's voice said, from somewhere above him._

_89P13 could barely show his teeth to show his displeasure. He jerked and found he could move his arms a little._

_"That's it, get the blood flowing. You'll feel better after that." Gax used his hand to shift him away from the desk edge and closer to the monitor._

_"W-wh...why?"_

_"Your muscles constrict, the blood warms your skin-"_

_"N-n-no. Why...why c-cold?"_

_"I told you why. The buyers want to be certain of your durability. I already know you can take some heat, so you'd better count yourself lucky that you weren't tested with fire."_

_"I...I am...'m cold."_

_"You'll survive. Your puppy fat saved you."_

_"J-j-jerk..off."_

_"Watch your mouth."_

_"D-d-don't ha-have pup..."_

_"You have a little bit. All young mammals do." Gax helped him to sit up, frowning when he sat with his legs hunched up and his hands on the desk in a feral way. "You know I don't like it when you sit like a dog. Do you see me sitting like that?"_

_"N-no, but...but it's..h-hard."_

_"Sit properly. Put your legs down."_

_"C-can't."_

_"Do it now! And speak properly, I can't understand you when you stammer."_

_89P13 managed to partially extend his legs and yelped shrilly when Gax pulled them harshly to make them dangle over the desk edge. "You...didn't...have to...do that."_

_"If I hadn't, you'd still be hunched up now. Sit like that again and you'll go from being too cold to being too hot. Are we understood?"_

_89P13 forced out a 'yes' and shivered violently, his small teeth smashing together with such force that he was frightened they would break into pieces. The cold was lessening now, but he could feel a chill deep in his tiny bones. He was so cold. He was so desperate. He edged forward and slid down, landing on his creator's leg and hobbled to him. It was dangerous, seeking anything similar to affection. He'd learned when he'd been very small not to give or expect affection. But this wasn't a search for kindness, this was a search for warmth and he was sure Gax would understand it. He leaned into his chest, feeling heat almost thaw the frost he was sure now covered his veins._

_"Stop." Gax ground out, his teeth gritted. "It's not allowed for either of us and you know that."_

_"I'm cold. You aren't."_

_"My people don't respond well to cold." Gax said and he grabbed 89P13 by his collar. "Let go."_

_"Gax, come on, I'm frozen inside."_

_"Let go or I'll cut you open and then we'll see if you're frozen or not."_

_"But-"_

_"Now!"_

_With great reluctance, 89P13 released the hold he'd had on the Aakon's shirt. Almost instantly, he was roughly pulled up by the collar and put on the floor. "You...you understand, right? I wasn't being weak-"_

_"You're weakness personified. You have to learn to deal with your own fucking problems by yourself. People will not help you solve them." Gax's hazel eyes looked him up and down coldly. "You disappoint me, you really do. It's like you wake up each day and think of new ways to be the worst you can be, rather than the best."_

_"That's not fair. I try-"_

_"That's not good enough! You're not a little child, you're a weapon in progress and you need to act like it."_

_"I didn't make myself, you know! If I'm so terrible, that's your own fucking fault!"_

_"That does it. Come here."_

_89P13 had no intention. He remembered Gax's earlier promise and knew better than to go anywhere near him. He shook his head._

_Gax tried to grab him, cursed when he missed and managed to seize his arm on the second attempt. "Why don't you ever do as you're fucking told-"_

_89P13 used the claws on his right hand to scratch several light lines down his creator's thumb. He squealed in pain as one of the fingers was quickly popped out of joint and struggled pointlessly as both arms were held behind his back. He could feel the fur around the bald spots on his back being grabbed and flinched, tense and waiting until with a heave, a clump was ripped from the delicate skin beneath. Pain burned across his back and he shrieked, unable to stop himself. Another rip and he almost whined like an animal. More fur was torn out of his flesh and he jumped from foot to foot, trying to find some way of escape. Then another was yanked from his skin and he screamed and writhed, trying to free his arms._

_"I hope that teaches you." Gax said and he dropped 89P13 to the floor, ignoring his pained cries._

* * *

Rocket didn't know what to do with himself. One one hand, he wanted nothing more than to curl up by the warmest-looking person in the Ravager-style nest, but on the other...he still didn't do cuddling. A hug here and there was one thing, but being held onto by someone for a long period of time was...disconcerting to say the least. Rocket looked them over and rubbed his hands together until a green hand lightly pulled his elbow. He let Gamora encourage him to her side and sat beside her, feeling her hand clumsily pet between his ears. She was getting better, even though she wasn't the most gentle person. Gamora's hands were warm and he shifted closer to her, hesitating briefly. She was an assassin, widely feared and for very good reason. Would she be angry if he tried to initiate cuddling with her?

"It's okay," Gamora whispered. "I know you're cold. Come on."

"Are...you're sure about this?" She wouldn't be so cruel as to play a trick on him...would she?

In answer, Gamora nodded her head and pulled him closer until her jaw rested on his head. "I'm positive." Her hand tapped his back softly. "Do they hurt?"

"Cold doesn't usually bother 'em." Rocket mumbled into a thick lock of hair that had fallen over his face. He brushed it away. "You're so warm."

"And you're like a little block of ice." Gamora tucked her blanket around him and rubbed his arms and legs to get the blood flowing to the surface. "I think I know why you didn't seek out warmth immediately."

"And why's that?"

"Him."

"Gavaar wasn't exactly big on hugs and kisses, I'll admit." Rocket shifted onto his belly and put his jaw on his hands. Realising what he was doing, he quickly turned back on his side, only to hear a soft sigh from Gamora. "What?"

"You can lie however you want."

"I know that!"

"So do it. I don't care if you like to lie down with your head on your hands. If it's comfortable, do it."

It was comfortable and he did want to do it, so he did as she suggested. It all would have been nice if she had honed her petting skills, but he was warm and comfy and couldn't be bothered to complain. "It don't bother you?"

"Why should it?"

"It ain't normal."

"It is for you." Gamora kept rubbing his back and if it had been anyone, maybe even Pete who had already seen it, maybe even Drax who would know exactly how to touch it, Rocket would have been flinching away. Not from Gamora. Not from her. She knew his pains as well as she knew her own. "There will always be things you do that are feral."

"I wish there weren't."

"They're things your mother would have done herself." Gamora said gently. "It's in your nature, like it was in hers. Maybe you should stop thinking about what he would have said or done about it and think what your mother would do or...think about it. Which person's opinion matters most?"

"Mom."

Gamora didn't say anything, just kept smoothing over the hidden cybernetics. When he shivered and moved closer to her warmth, she wrapped both arms around him. He was sure she had sacrificed most of her blanket for him, there was so much soft wool draped over his body. Even so, she was very warm. "Try to sleep," she whispered into one of his ears. "I promise I won't roll on you."

"You'd be okay. With Quill, I'd worry." Rocket yawned and pressed his forehead against Gamora's shoulder. "Night."

* * *

"Do you feel better now?"

They were far away from Askla. Space would freeze you in seconds if you dared go into it without appropriate wear, but Rocket found it much warmer out of the planet than inside it. The fact he was still wearing Gamora's blanket around his shoulders like a cape and was huddled by Drax to steal his body heat helped. "Mmhm."

Drax scratched gently behind Rocket's ears. "You feel much warmer now."

Rocket could only nod his agreement. He'd tried to sleep, but despite Gamora's efforts, he had found it hard to rest. He pulled Drax's hand to his chest, both of his own hands splayed over the larger, grey one in an attempt to glean more warmth. He opened an eye and tried to find the energy to speak properly. "'m okay."

"You're exhausted." Drax said. "I understand it must be difficult to speak."

It did occur to Rocket that Drax was probably trying to enjoy the silence, but one look in the man's eyes and that thought quickly went away. He just nodded and let his eyes close. It didn't matter if he could talk or not. His family understood him just fine.


	15. Rule 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the anon on tumblr who asked for Rules 23 and 35, my sincerest apologies for not being able to fit in Rule 35! I will do it in the next chapter I write and I hope that you enjoy this (admittedly large) chapter! Thank you so much for your request!

 

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
**~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
**~~3) No lying.~~  **   
**~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
~~**5) Subject to be clean at all times.**~~  
~~**6) No drinking shower water.**~~  
**~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
~~**8) No animalistic posturing.**~~  
**~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
**10) No drinking without permission.**  
**~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
**13) No licking body clean.**  
**14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
**~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
**~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
~~**17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
~~**19) No escape attempts.**~~  
**~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
**21) No breakages.**  
**22) Get enough sleep.**  
~~**23) No wandering off.**~~  
**~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
~~**26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
**27) No hiding.**  
**~~28) No playing.~~  **   
**~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
**~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
**31) No spitting.**  
**32) No hitting.**  
~~**33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
~~**35) Use your voice when spoken to.**~~  
**36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
**~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
~~**39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
**40) No being distracted.**  
**41) No screaming.**  
~~**42) No begging.**~~  
**43) No wasting of resources.**  
~~**44) No lock picking.**~~  
~~**45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
~~**46) No backchat.**  ~~  
~~**47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
~~**48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
~~**50) No asking for anything.**~~

_"Who the hell are they?"_

_"Who?"_

_89P13 pointed at the people going in and out of the testing room. Without warning, he was pulled upwards by his arm and held in place by one of his creator's hands. "Who are they, Gax?"_

_"They need to borrow this room from us for a while. We're going somewhere else today."_

_"But this is_ our _room."_

_"I'm not happy about it either, but they need it. We'll be back in time for you to have your night meal."_

_"Can't they need somebody else's room?" 89P13 asked, but Gax closed his mouth by holding around his snout. He pushed his creator's fingers until they released him and looked around as he was taken into a room close to where he had surgeries. The knowledge that the dreaded surgery room was so closeby made him shiver from fear._

_"Alright." Gax put him on a shelf and moved his test subject's head slightly so that 89P13 was looking into his eyes. "I know you'll be tempted to explore, but don't. There are dangerous objects in this room and I don't want you to hurt yourself with them."_

_"What's dangerous?"_

_Gax pointed at something round and clear. Inside was a glowing, green ball. "That contains powerful radiation. If you touch it, you_ will _give yourself cancer."_

_89P13 stared at it. "Why are we in a room with that thing?"_

_"Because it was either this room or a room designed to suffocate you with poisonous gas. This seemed the better option. That and I couldn't find any masks small enough for you."_

_"Those guys better be grateful for this."_

_"I'm sure they are. Don't leave the shelf until I come to get you. The cancer orb is probably the least dangerous thing in here."_

_"Can I at least walk around? I won't climb up anything." Especially not onto the table with the cancer orb on it.  
_

_Gax looked at him, considering. "I want you in my sight at all times. You understand that when I say something is dangerous, it is_ seriously _dangerous."  
_

_"I won't go anywhere. I just want to look. I've never been in here before."  
_

_Maybe it was against his better judgment or maybe Gax just figured that he could on this occasion trust his little test subject. Whatever went on in his mind, he nodded his head. "Promise me that you won't climb up anything in this room."  
_

_"I promise." 89P13 agreed. As his creator crouched to look in a cabinet under the shelf, 89P13 jumped to land on his shoulder and also took a look inside the cabinet. All that was in there were boxes full of chips, wiring and other enticing things. 89P13 thought the contents were glorious. Judging by the look on Gax's face, he thought otherwise._

_"What's the matter with you?"  
_

_"They were meant to set these up." Gax muttered, picking up a long green wire from an entwined clump of red, blue and other green wires and then dropping it back in the box. "_ _You'll need to be patient, there aren't any instructions to these."  
_

_"I'll do it." 89P13 offered.  
_

_"You don't know what these are meant to make." Gax said, but he took 89P13 from his shoulder and sat him close to where he was kneeling. "But it would be a big help if you would organise the wires for me."  
_

_Disentangling wires wasn't very exciting, but at least it was a way for him to keep his hands busy. Maybe Gax thought so too. 89P13 soon found himself with a ball comprised of brightly coloured wires and started to pull them away from each other. "What are you going to do?"  
_

_"I'll call the dipshits we lent the room to and find out how to set up the equipment."_

_"What's it going to be when it's set up?"_

_"Those wires," Gax said as he pulled a calling screen from the wall, "are meant to be attached to your cybernetics so we can see how well they're working."_

_"The_ external _ones, right?"_

_"Of course." Gax pressed a number and nudged the wiring closer to 89P13 with his foot. "Come on, I want to see your dexterity."_

_89P13 started disentangling the wires and then paused to tug on Gax's shoelace. "Will it hurt?"_

_"No. It's for diagnostics, that's all." The screen pulsed with a pale green light and Gax held a hand out to press another button. "I need you to be quiet while I talk to these...people."_

_"Assholes."_

_"Shh."_

_Gax had said it harshly, but 89P13 saw a smile that told him he'd succeeded in somehow pleasing his creator. It wasn't so bad, he guessed. He got the chance to sort things which he enjoyed and diagnostics tests didn't hurt, not really. It was just a shame that Gax had been annoyed by the assholes hadn't bothered to set it up._

* * *

This was probably the more boring of the assignments the Guardians had taken on. It was abandoned, empty and not so silent as to be suspicious. But it was easy. And it paid out 20,000 units to each of them. 140,000 units for a couple of hours of their time and the delivery of some ancient sword in the old museum. There was danger in the structure, danger in the exposed wires, danger in the floors that were holed by rust, but there was no fight here. It could almost be called safe. Almost.

"I don't like this place." Gamora muttered. Her own sword was held tightly in her hand as she walked, even though the only people there were them. "We have the sword, let's just go."

Rocket looked at the sword with its jewelled hilt. He wondered how much just one of the gems might go for. "What say we hack out one of them jewels?"

"I'm tempted." Pete admitted. "But we gotta get our paycheck. If this guy figures anything is missing, we don't get paid."

It wasn't worth it for a gemstone that might have only been worth a grand or less, so Rocket let it go. He looked at all the other doors leading to treasures unknown and found himself moving toward the closest one. It was dark as hell until he turned on his flashlight to see nothing but filing cabinets and another door. Maybe, he thought, the door could lead to somewhere cool, if not valuable, so he went through it, finding himself at the top of a flight of metal stairs. At the bottom were boxes. Large boxes. Tentatively, he put one foot on the lower step and began walking down the stairs. They were narrow, maybe too short for a humanoid being to walk on, but they suited him just fine. Metal creaked and he stopped, but he didn't feel anything bow downward, so kept going. The first thing he did when he reached the floor was head to one of the eleven boxes he'd spotted.  
Removing the lid, he saw dozens of clear packets containing what looked to him to be boring, plain rocks so he abandoned it in favour of the box closest to it. The second box was more interesting. It had smaller boxes inside and when he opened one, he saw metal and colourful stones that reflected in the light. Either they were old relics from a long-lost civilisation or, as Rocket suspected, they were fakes. But they were good fakes, so he headed back to the stairs, the little box of treasures under one arm. Going up was just as simple as going down. It was only when he was two steps from the top that things went wrong.  
There was a screech and something shuddered under his feet, causing him to jump forward. Maybe it was the extra weight from the box, maybe he was heavier than he thought. Either way, the stairs didn't feel like holding him anymore. He managed to throw the box to relative safety and jumped from the step he was precariously balanced on to the floor only a short distance ahead. He managed to grab the floor with his arms, his legs feeling weightless without anything beneath them but air and, way down, unforgiving concrete. He slipped. He pressed his claws into the floor, trying to get some grip, but it was no use.

 _'I probably should get rid of the gun if I wanna survive this.'_ Rocket thought. He was right, the gun was dragging him back, but he would prefer to die than get rid of a weapon he'd made. He fought against the forces trying to drag him down, but it was no use. Finally, as his elbows approached the edge, he struggled to dislodge his weapon, out of sheer desparation to live. The buckle remained stuck and he cursed. Great. He was going to die and he was going to die in the stupidest fucking way possible.

"There you are!"

Rocket barely had time to register that someone had found him when two large grey hands reached down, each taking one of his. The weight of his gun and the pull of gravity had nothing on Drax's strength. Not for the first time, he was glad that the man was so freakishly large and strong and when Drax dumped him on his shoulder, he couldn't breathe for panting.

 "Are you alright?" Drax asked. "What were you doing on that edge?"

"The stairs fell from under me." Rocket said. He pointed at the box. "Get that, would you?"

Drax bent, scooped the box from where it lay on the ground and straightened back up. "We have no further business here. Quill wants us to leave soon." He gave Rocket the box back and started walking to the doorway. "You didn't answer my earlier question."

"What earlier question?"

"I asked if you were alright."

"Oh." Rocket took a last look at where the stairs had been and shivered. "I'm fine."

* * *

_"Thing is, we all thought you were smart enough to figure it out on your own."_

_"No. The thing is, you're all lazy fuckheads. Get over here and fix this machine up or I'll go down there and get you here by myself."_

_"I'd like to see you try." the Kylorian on the screen smirked. It was true, he was larger than Gax, but he didn't seem to know or care that Gax was willing and able to use underhanded tactics to get whatever it was he wanted._

_"I won't_ try _to do it. I_ will _do it. Get down here."_

_89P13 had finally had enough of the conversation. Both were as stubborn as the other and neither would back down. He pulled on his creator's pants' leg until Gax reached down for him. "I did the wires." he said pointedly as Gax took him up._

_"My god, what a little freak." the Kylorian muttered, dark purple eyes looking 89P13 over. "What the hell is that?"_

_"I'm a weapon." 89P13 said, glowering at the Kylorian._

_"Oh, sure. And how do you kill, you little freak?"_

_89P13 didn't know what it was that the Kylorian said next because Gax put a hand over his ear and said something that made the Kylorian pale and disconnect the call. "What did he say?"_

_"Never mind." Gax said, kneeling by the box and sifting through the contents 89P13 had left behind. "We'll give this a try and if we can't, I'll get that son of a bitch to do it."_

_"Am I a freak?" 89P13 had never asked before. He had always been afraid of the answer._

_"No." Gax put him by the box. "There's nothing else like you in the known universe and there may never be again. People are cruel to those they don't understand."_

_Was that why Gax was cruel to him? But that didn't make sense to 89P13. No one else knew him as well as Gax did, after all. He watched his creator reach inside the box for various pieces and stood on the tips of his toes to look inside too. "Can I help?"_

_"For the smaller pieces, yes. Right now, the bigger pieces are too large for you to handle."_

_"So what am I meant to do?"_

_"Wait. This shouldn't take long. If those idiotic pink-skins can make this machine up, so can we."_

_"Why did you want them to do it if it was so easy?"_

_Gax shot him a baleful glare. "They said they would, so they should have done it. It's about principle."_

_89P13 wasn't entirely sure what 'principle' was, but knew better than to irritate his creator by asking about it. "Are there tools around?"_

_"That might help. Look in that cupboard to your left."_

_The cupboard in question was against the furthest wall and was more of a shelf with a curtain drawn to hide its contents than it was an actual cupboard. 89P13 pulled it back to find several microscopes and sloppily-piled stacks of glass slides, but no tools. "Nothin'."_

_"Typical." Gax muttered, but he at least was making headway with the machine. He looked at something above 89P13's head and held out his hand. "Come over here. You're too close to the cancer orb."_

_89P13 didn't want to be anywhere near the cancer orb and wasted no time in going back to his creator. "Why do they even have that?" he asked._

_"The radiation can be very useful or valuable in research." Gax showed him a slight green mark by a tiny hole in one of the metal sides. "That needs two green wires wrapped around each other."_

_89P13 did the best he could with the wires and slid them through the hole. He forgot all about the cancer orb and all other dangers of the room as the machine grew. He felt almost accomplished when it was finished, even though the parts that were to be used to clip onto his cybernetics worried him. "Done."_

_"Clever boy. Not many people can say they've built something before they were a year old." Gax held out a grape, apparently as a reward for the help and pulled 89P13 closer to the machine once the treat was accepted. "Let's get this done. It's just for the external ones, not for the internal ones. It shouldn't hurt."_

_Gax was right. It didn't hurt, but 89P13 always felt weird when he felt the mild surges of electricity through the centres of his metalwork. He was very relieved when the test was finished. "How did they do?"_

_"They're fine, of course they are, it was just to see if there were any minor issues that could be going on with them. They're completely fine." Gax offered him another grape and disattached the parts from 89P13's cybernetics while the test subject ate his treat. "We'll go back now. Your buyers sent a new simulation scenario which they were hoping you'd attempt soon and those pink-skins have had long enough in there."_

_Maybe the pink-skins also thought so or maybe it was sheer luck, but not long after Gax had put the machine inside its box did the Kylorians return to their room. The guy who_ _Gax had rebuked gave 89P13 another piercing stare and smirked. "Got it working?"_

_"No thanks to you." Gax said coldly. "That's the last time I make any deals with you or your kind."_

_They were going to get into a fight, 89P13 quickly realised. And the big pink jerk didn't even realise the lengths Gax would go to win. Well, if he wanted to be stupid, 89P13 didn't have to be in the firing line. He took shelther behind a metal unit and peeked out, so Gax could see where he was after he'd kicked the shit out of the large pink jerk who'd annoyed them both._

_"My kind?" the Kylorian said, his tone matching the coldness of Gax's. "What's that meant to mean?"_

"Pink-skins."

_"That's racist, Gax, and in front of your hideous little science project?"_

_"Well, he's better looking than your daughter is. Or do you have a son? Hard to tell."_

_89P13 snorted._

_"It's going to be hard for you to tell when I rip your eyelids off your face!"_

_"Do you really believe that?" Gax asked._

_89P13 had seen his creator in enough physical alterations - hell, he'd even been involved in more than his fair share - to know how this new fight would turn out. He climbed up some handles belonging to no less than five drawers and found himself on a table, made of some kind of black glass. He absently watched Gax grab the Kylorian's hair, smashing the man's face into the table and watched bubbles rise to the top of five small test tubes, each a different colour._

_He had been made in one of those, Gax had said. He wondered which colour he had been before he'd formed. He looked at his hands and then at his leg where fur had been shaved not long ago. The bald patch showed pale skin, yet his hands were dark in colour. The test tubes contained red, blue, green, pink and yellow liquid - one colour per tube. The colours didn't match him, but maybe he hadn't been dark or pale in the test tube. Of all the colours of the tubes, the yellow one caught 89P13's eye, the shade being similar to his creator's skin colour._  
_He touched the bottom of it, noting its warmth. Warmth meant life. Maybe there was a new prototype in there. He wanted to see it. He eased it out and looked inside. Nothing moved and 89P13 was disappointed that the thing inside appeared to be asleep, but it smelled nice, sweeter than the reward grapes yet similar to them. He was about to put the tube back into its slot when there was a small but very audible crack that appeared in the glass of the tube._

_Everyone, including 89P13, became deadly silent._

_"89P13," Gax said calmly. "What's that in your hand?"_

_89P13 wasn't sure, but he answered as truthfully as he could. "A thing like me."_

_Gax's eyes flickered from the small test tube to the group of pink-skinned beings._

_"Acid." One of the Kylorians mumbled._

_"What kind?"_

_"The bad kind."_

_Gax nodded. "Any gloves?"_

_"We share this lab with Rajaks. The acid stuff is theirs."_

_"Alright." Gax held out his hand. "89P13 I'm going to put my hand around the tube and you need to let it go for me. The second you let it go, you must jump back. This isn't the acid you felt. This is considerably worse."_

_"You'll lose your hand!"_

_Gax shrugged at the Kylorian's remark. "There's cybernetics out there. And you'll be surprised what I can do one-handed." He put his hand around the test tube and met 89P13's eyes. "Let it go. I have it."_

_"You're going to maim yourself for that little freak?"_

_"One more word from and you will also find yourself with only one hand."_

_"What if you die?" 89P13 asked quietly._

_"It won't kill me. Do as I told you."_

_89P13 closed his eyes and let the tube go. There was a sound of glass breaking. Something sizzled and 89P13 smelled something savoury in the air. And then, for the first time, he heard his creator scream._

* * *

"Man, you always find the coolest stuff." Quill picked up one of the precious stones out of the box and pressed the pad of his fingertip against its pointed end. It was almost diamond-shaped and could easily be used as a murder weapon. Maybe that had been its purpose once. "Where did you find this stuff?"

Rocket shrugged, not wanting to detail how close he'd been to certain death. He already knew how stupid he'd been and didn't need Quill to point it out. "In a room."

"Most of this stuff is fake." Kraglin said. "But it looks good, so we should be able to get somethin' out of it."

Just his luck that the least valuable of the treasures were the real thing and what would have been the most valuable were fake. Just his goddamned luck. "Did you guys find anything?"

"I found a metal vase." Gamora said. "Quill wants to paint it gold with Groot-"

"That's nice."

"-and sell it for a highly inflated profit."

Rocket grinned. "Gotta make a living. Better tell Groot to make sure you don't drink the paint, Quill."

"That's funny, Rock." Quill closed the box up again and stretched his arms above his head. "Hey, next time you go looting, take me with you. You could have an extra set of hands."

Pete could be fun to go looting with. Rocket shrugged again. Something inside his shoulder clicked painfully and he grabbed it. Under his skin, part of the arm felt loose, the metal that had replaced part of a bone years ago. It had clicked out of place by the force of the shrug, the problem might have started while he'd been trying to singlehandedly climb back up before Drax had found him. Rocket knew that everyone was aware of his cybernetics, but he still found himself hesitating before looking at Gamora. "Would you give me a hand?"

Gamora lent him her hand to help him stand. "Is it painful?"

He wanted to say that it wasn't, but the situation was taken out of his hands by a wave of fiery pain that made him grimace. "Just a little."

Gamora undoubtedly knew that he was lying, but guided him to her cabin. She didn't hold as much fear to her modifications as he held to his own and she understood that to bring medical issues into his cabin where he was meant to feel safe would harm him. That being said, both had been created horrifically and neither wanted to be on display while helping each other through cybernetic issues, so she usually brought him to where she rested when either had a problem. "What's the matter with your shoulder? I heard something click."

Rocket leaned his back against her bed. "Gavaar added flexibility into my arms by hooking up a bunch of...I don't know, metal wires that hold the arm and shoulder where they're meant to be. If one of the wires goes out of place, it means the arm can move in one direction a little more than normal. It's...not easy to fix by myself. It hurts a lot."

"Okay." Gamora tightened the pieces of leather she wore around her forearms and pulled her sleeves down. They had learned very early that Rocket had a tendency to scratch when things hurt. Gamora, on the other hand, was more of a thrower. It was because of this instinct that there was a very tiny helmet under her bed. She squeezed his unhurt shoulder. "I need access to your shoulder," she said gently. "Could you take the top part of your clothes off?"

Rocket wasn't thrilled by the idea, but he knew that she wasn't asking for fun. He reluctantly unzipped it and pulled it carefully over the bad shoulder, flinching several times. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"Don't feel too bad. The first time you helped me, I nearly threw you through the wall."

"That was actually kinda fun."

"You would say that." Gamora muttered as she delicately pressed his bad shoulder for the loose wire. "You pretended to be dead and scared the life out of me."

Rocket snickered. "You know, I would have done it again, if you hadn't yelled for Drax after I started laughing at you."

Gamora rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "He has this magical ability to make you see the error of your ways."

"Yeah, he guilt-trips me and it sucks. And you're a jerk for lettin' him."

Gamora rubbed behind his head. "Like you wouldn't yell at one of us for pretending to be dead." She took her hand and pressed the fingers against his sore shoulder. "I'll try to avoid hurting you, but I'm sorry if I do."

"I'm probably going to ask you to stop, but you can't. If it stops, it'll go back to where it was, you know?"

"Okay." Gamora flashed him an apologetic smile. "Okay."

It did hurt. A lot. He begged her to stop and the pain frightened him into scratching dark green lines across the back of her hand, but Gamora didn't stop until the problem was solved. The first thing he did when it was finished was stand on her lap and hug around her neck, knowing exactly how shitty she felt for hurting him and feeling equally shitty for hurting her. "Thanks."

"It's okay." Gamora put one arm around his lower back. "It's okay."

"I tried not to scratch-"

"Hey." Gamora rubbed his head again. "It's a reaction to pain, nothing personal."

"Remember that the next time you throw me across a room."

"I'll try." Gamora said, but they both knew how awful she would feel the next time she did. She hugged him and then drew back, having apparently accepted that he had no ill feelings toward her. "I'll see you later."

Rocket left her cabin before she did. He knew she would be going to the medbay in search of bandages for her hand and tried to remember what she'd said about reactions to pain. Anything to ward off the guilt. He rubbed his shoulder absently as he walked away from Gamora's cabin, even though it didn't hurt any more. Something brushed over the tip of his right ear. It was a hand and one he knew pretty well. "Any chance you feel like brushing my fur?"

"There could be."

That was Drax-speak for 'yes' and Rocket let the man pull him up to his shoulder for the second time that day. He'd been so lucky, so damn lucky, that Drax had found him or he'd have died in that abandoned building. Did Drax realise that? Was that why he'd just so happened to find him? Was he mad? No, Rocket decided. When Drax was mad, everyone knew about it.

"Why are you so tense?" Drax asked after several minutes of fur-brushing. Unusually, they were in the dining area, but Rocket had grown too used to the others to really care if they saw him getting his fur brushed or not. Besides, Mantis was always getting her hair brushed and no one cared. "By now, you're usually half-asleep."

"I'm not tense!"

"You feel it to me." Drax rested the brush in his hand so its bristles all pointed up. "Is this about your misadventure?"

"What misadventure?"

Drax sighed. "People don't end up dangling for their lives when things go well."

"I lived, didn't I?"

"I doubt that you would have if I hadn't pulled you up." Drax shifted so he was better able to look down at Rocket. "I heard a crash. That was what made me look where I found you."

"There was a staircase. Then there wasn't."

It hadn't been much information, but it had clearly been enough for Drax and - judging by his frown- Pete to piece together what had happened. "Didn't you have an aero-rig?"

"What the hell do you think? 'Course I didn't!"

Drax's eyes were calm and stern. "The building was very old," he pointed out. "Old metal rusts, especially if it's uncared for. You must know that, so why would you go down a weakened staircase?"

"Because I wanted to see what was down there and it was worth it-"

"It would not be if you were dead."

"I don't have to run everything I do by you people! I can go wherever the hell I want!"

"That's right." Drax agreed. "But I'm sure you would have many angry words for me if it was me who had gotten myself into avoidable danger."

"So where are your angry words?"

"I'm not angry." The man petted behind his right ear. "But it terrifies me that I could have lost another child."

Rocket stared at him, not entirely understanding. As far as he knew, Drax had only ever fathered one child. "But you don't have any other kids."

To his left, Quill let his head fall to the table. Voice slightly muffled by the metal surface, he said; "He means you, you dumbass!" He lifted his head and started snickering. "He also called you a child!"

"I did not!"

"You kinda did."

"Quill, I told you that I did no such thing!"

 Pete, being an asshole, just grinned. "I know what I heard, Drax. I can't say I blame you for mistaking him for one - ow! Rocket!"

Rocket tapped another grenade on the table. "Say it again, Pete, and it'll be live."

"You got my head!" Quill whined. "Drax!"

Drax nodded his head at Rocket. "Good throw."

Quill scowled at them and got to his feet, holding the grenade in his hand. "You're both dicks and I'm keeping this."

"I can operate it remotely, so be careful where you put it." Rocket was, of course, lying, but he got what he wanted as Quill handed it back to him on his way out. "Just goes to show what he knows."

"Maybe you should throw it in a more gentle manner next time." Drax suggested, his enormous palm resting on Rocket's shoulder. "You would regret it if you accidentally killed him."

"I'll try." Who knew, maybe it would knock some sense into the Terran's head. Rocket nudged his own against Drax's elbow, trying to indicate that the man really should start brushing his fur again and flicked his ears when Drax didn't immediately get the message. Once the brush was picked back up, he relaxed, soothed instantly. "Drax?"

"Yes?"

"Was Pete right before?"

Drax was unusually quiet for several moments. "When?"

"When he said you meant me."

Drax didn't say anything for a long time. His eyes gave it all away as his hand went through the brushing motions Rocket knew so well by now. Then he stopped. "I was not calling you a child to be demeaning. But, yes, I meant you. And I know..." His large, careful hands smoothed over the exposed metalwork in Rocket's back, fully taking advantage of the trust shown to him. "I know that even after time has lessened the pain and fears you felt at the scientist's hand, you may never want a father."

Rocket didn't know what to say. He could feel the bald spots by his spine tingle warningly with every touch, but there was no fear as there had been in the lab. He didn't want one, Drax was right. But knowing the man, the option would be around for a long time.

* * *

_It had been just over an hour since Gax had let his hands get burned by the acid. 89P13's knowledge of other species was limited, but he knew one thing about Aakon people and that was that they were resistant to heat and most types of chemicals. When he'd been smaller, Gax had found it funny to hold his hand directly inside an open flame in order to see his little test subject's reaction. That had stopped the day 89P13 had wanted to see if he could also do such a thing and had set his own tail on fire._

_89P13 looked up at his creator. He was currently being fed, but found it hard to swallow out of fear. He could feel the heat from the acid-induced burns on Gax's hands searing through his skin and dreaded to think how pissed the Aakon was with him for causing it to happen. Gax looked back at him and 89P13 averted his eyes, not wanting to know what he would see in his creator's eyes. The nozzle was taken out of his mouth and fingers pushed his chin up. He resisted, but the Aakon was stronger than he was and he soon met Gax's eyes again. 89P13 shut his eyes and then put his hands over them so he wouldn't be forced into any more eye contact._

_"Look at me."_

_89P13 couldn't. He shook his head._

_"I'm not angry with you for what happened to me."_

_89P13 peeked through his fingers. He could now see Gax's eyes and he was pretty sure that Gax could now see his. "You're not?"_

_"I'm not."_

_"But you got hurt. You got burned."_

_Gax looked at his hands, covered by protective gloves. "Do you know why I took that acid from you?"_

_89P13 thought back to when the test tube had exploded and what had occurred shortly afterwards. "So you could splash it on the bad guys?"_

_Gax tilted his head. "I can see why you would think that, but no. I took it because I knew I could take the heat. You could never. That stuff would have skeletonised you before you even knew about it."_

_89P13 looked at the gloves on the Aakon's hands. "Were you skeletonised?"_

_Gax pulled the glove on his left hand down, revealing deep orange flesh, some already scabbed over. "Just burned the surface. I won't need the gloves tomorrow." He pulled the glove back up and tilted 89P13's jaw up again. "You should not have gone wandering, especially as you knew I couldn't keep an eye on you. You could have been killed by ay number of things, not just the acid."_

_"I'm sorry." 89P13 said, because he really did regret causing his creator pain. It had been an accident and he knew that if he'd been more careful then it wouldn't have happened. "Do...do you hate me now?"_

_"No, I don't hate you. I don't hate you at all. Why did you go looking in that test tube in the first place?"_

_"I was made in one, right?"_

_Realisation dawned in hazel eyes. "You thought they were making one of you in the test tube?"_

_"Yeah." 89P13 tried to ignore the fierce warmth radiating from Gax's skin. "I was made in one and I thought that maybe...when I was forming, I might've been the same colour as you."_

_"We're entirely different things, you know we are." Gax said. "Why would you think we were ever the same colour?"_

_"You made me, so I thought that some of me came from you."_

_Gax blinked. He took his hand away from 89P13 so sharply that the sudden absence of the heat made him feel cold. "No part of me went into making you. You're not my child and I would never want you to be."_

_89P13 looked at his feet. It was dangerous, considering that he was quite literally in Gax's arms, but he couldn't stop himself. "I wouldn't want to be either. You'd be a shitty father."_

_It took his creator no more than three seconds to turn him and deliver a particularly harsh slap to the back of his leg. But then the most amusing thing happened. No sooner had 89P13 yelled out, Gax yelped. Apparently he had forgotten that it would hurt him as well as his little test subject to dole out beatings. "This isn't funny," the Aakon gritted out, shaking his hand out stiffly. "I wish I had an extra arm."_

_"I think it's very funny." 89P13 said. He rubbed his leg to soothe it. "Now you know how I feel when you hit me."_

_"I already know. You've always been vocal about it." Gax dropped him into the basin. "I'm sure you're aware that I can't beat you now."_

_89P13 eyed the spigot, in particular the one he feared most with its glass red circle. He hated hot water more than he hated getting beaten. "There's tomorrow," he suggested weakly._

_"That's no way to start a day. Put your hands under the tap."_

_89P13 knew what would happen. It was clear by the way Gax rested his fingertips on the spigot, just ready to unleash scalding water upon his little test subject's hands. 89P13 couldn't obey. He couldn't._

_"You knew better than to go where I couldn't see you-"_

_"You were kicking someone's ass!"_

_"You still knew better, now put your hands under the fucking tap! If I have to have sore hands, so do you!"_

_"I'm not one of you, remember?"_

_In answer Gax pushed him beneath the tap and turned the spigot. Steam came out first and then a cascade of terrible heat drenched the little weapon from head to toe._

* * *

Since being free of Halfworld, Rocket had met several ex-slaves. Most were freed from Hala, like Yondu had been. Nearly all had ended up in prison for reasons Rocket found too depressing to think back on. All of the ones from Hala had one thing in common.

None of them could have biological kids.

With that in mind, Rocket thought back on that conversation when he'd caused hurt to his creator for the first time. He'd been right. Gavaar would have made an appalling father. But Rocket now knew that the Aakon had been robbed of the chance to prove otherwise and that had probably gone a long way to making him what he was. And yet...the slave who had done such a bad job raising Rocket had left his ability to reproduce very much intact. There wasn't much point in it, considering there was nothing else like him, but Gavaar had refused to mutilate him in that way. Morals? Guilt? An extra jab at the master who'd owned him? Whatever had happened, Gavaar had left him with a shot of having children if the opportunity ever came up.

And he did have a child, Rocket thought as he adjusted Groot where he was sleeping in his lap. He did have one. Not that having balls had helped the kid exist, of course.

"Hey."

Rocket looked up from Groot to Quill and put a finger to his lips. "You wake him and I'm telling Mantis that you ate her lipgloss."

"I thought it was jelly. It's an easy mistake to make."

"For a moron, sure."

Pete rolled his eyes and sat beside him. "You know I was kidding earlier, right?"

"It don't matter, Pete."

Quill rested his elbows on his knees. "You always carry Groot around when you're thinking about...stuff. So...what are you thinkin' about?"

"Stuff."

Quill half-smiled and nodded his head. "Okay, what stuff?"

"Stuff that kids shouldn't hear."

"Okay." Pete held his hands out. "Let me put him into his bed and we'll talk."

Pete was good with Groot, Rocket mused as he waited for the Terran to return. He had some kind of knack. Either that or the man's childish nature made Groot agree with him. Either way, he was a good father. He'd been a decent son, from what Rocket knew about his relationship with his mom and adoptive dad. Two parents. For most of Rocket's early life, he'd thought that people only had one. One parental figure, anyway.

"I brought beer." Quill passed him a cold glass, beaded with condensation. He sat back down and took a long sip from his own glass. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Did...Yondu ever talk about the people who...had him?"

Quill rubbed his nose. "Not when he was okay." he said finally. "When I was fifteen, I got mad with him for making me do ship duties and told him he was treating me like a slave. You can imagine how pissed he got with that. I learned that day just how bad he got it and so did half the crew." Quill sighed. "It was bad."

"I told Gavaar once that he'd have made a terrible father."

"You had a point." Pete set aside his drink. "Why did you tell him that?"

Rocket looked away from him. "He was the one who took care of me, made me and all that crap. I figured...he'd maybe used part of himself to make me. I told him that once and he said I wasn't his kid and that, y'know, he wouldn't want me to be his kid...I got mad and told him he would've made a shitty father and then he got mad. You can guess the rest."

Quill nodded. "If he could treat you how he did, chances are, he would have treated his own kids just like it."

"I just always kinda thought he was my parent."

"He was all you had once." Quill plucked a deep pink hair from his jacket and stared at it for a moment. "You're not the first to think that of an asshole and you won't be the last." He let the hair go and turned himself to face Rocket better, simply stroking down the back of his head when Rocket couldn't meet his eyes. "You can choose your family, Rock. You can't choose where you were born or what you were born from or into, but you can decide who gets to be what." He stopped smoothing down the fur and put his hand on Rocket's shoulder for a moment. "Drax would never, ever hurt you."

"But I could hurt him." Rocket mumbled, because even if he had been right, it must have seriously hurt his creator when he'd told him that he would have made a terrible father. He had hurt him by being stupid enough to play around with a mystery substance. "I could do that."

"Since when has Drax hated any of us for the stuff we say?" Quill let out a breathless laugh. "Since when have we really held stuff we say against each other?"

Pete had a point there. Rocket had to admit he was the worst offender when it came to insults and general irritation, yet to his knowledge, no one had ever held anything against him. "What if I get him in trouble?"

"He'll just bust his way back out again." Quill picked his drink up, lightly swilling the golden liquid inside. "Damn, Rock, how much trouble do we get ourselves into on a weekly basis? You don't need to worry about Drax. The only thing you need to worry about right now is the fact that your beer's getting warm."

"You always have your priorities straight, don't you?" Rocket looked into the gold depths of his own beer and sipped at it. It was somewhat warm, but it was still booze, so he drank it. "Give me your glass, I'll wash it."

"I've literally never known anyone who likes chores as much as you do." Pete said as he did what Rocket had asked of him. "I'm going to bed. Leave the dishwashing machine alone."

"I'll try." Rocket said.

"And don't drown in the sink."

"Go to bed, you asshole." But when he got to the kitchen area, he didn't feel like doing the glasses after all, so he stowed them away in the machine and narrowly avoided taking out several interesting parts he thought he could use. It was nice to let Pete think he was in charge every so often, as Drax had told him.

Drax.

He could go. He could tell him that he'd changed his mind. Drax, he dared think, might even be kinda...happy. Or maybe he was being overly optimistic. He just didn't think he could do it, go in there, wake him up and spring it on him.

Still, the option was there. It would always be there.

 

 

 


	16. Rule 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad.

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.**  
 ** ~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~  **   
 ** ~~3) No lying.~~  **   
 ** ~~4) No stealing.~~  **   
 ~~ **5) Subject to be clean at all times.**~~  
 ~~ **6) No drinking shower water.**~~  
 ** ~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~  **   
 ~~ **8) No animalistic posturing.**~~  
 ** ~~9) No eating without permission~~.**  
 **10) No drinking without permission.**  
 ** ~~11) No digging through walls.~~  **   
 ** ~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~  **   
 **13) No licking body clean.**  
 **14) No engaging in risky behaviour.**  
 ** ~~15) No rudeness~~.**  
 ** ~~16) No cuddling.~~  **   
 ~~ **17) No being difficult.**  ~~  
 ** ~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~  **   
 ~~ **19) No escape attempts.**~~  
 ** ~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~  **   
 **21) No breakages.**  
 ~~ **22) Get enough sleep.**~~  
 ~~ **23) No wandering off.**~~  
 ** ~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~  **   
 ** ~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~  **   
 ~~ **26) No refusal of punishment.**~~  
 **27) No hiding.**  
 ** ~~28) No playing.~~  **   
 ** ~~29) No arguing.~~  **   
 ** ~~30) No secrets.~~  **   
 **31) No spitting.**  
 **32) No hitting.**  
 ~~ **33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.**  ~~  
 **34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.**  
 ~~ **35) Use your voice when spoken to.**~~  
 **36) Always look Gax in the eyes.**  
 ** ~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~  **   
 **38) Understand that everything is for your own good.**  
 ~~ **39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.**  ~~  
 **40) No being distracted.**  
 **41) No screaming.**  
 ~~ **42) No begging.**~~  
 **43) No wasting of resources.**  
 ~~ **44) No lock picking.**~~  
 ~~ **45) No taking objects into Home.**  ~~  
 ~~ **46) No backchat.**  ~~  
 ~~ **47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.**  ~~  
 ~~ **48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.**  ~~  
 **49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.**  
 ~~ **50) No asking for anything.**~~

 

_"Ow!" 89P13 ducked his head as a patch was ripped from his temple. "Next time you rip these things off, tell me you're gonna do it!"_

_"Can't you tell for yourself when I'm about to do it?" Gax asked, unceremoniously tearing off another patch, this time from above the test subject's eye._

_"A little preparation time would be appreciated." 89P13 muttered, rubbing at his brow. "You keep catching my fur."_

_"I can't believe you're whining so much about losing a few little strands of fur. It'll grow back."_

_"But it hurts. How many more of these do you have to take out?"_

_"Only one." Gax said and there was a burning pain across the top of 89P13's head where skin broke, making the test subject curse. The Aakon tsked. "You have a terrible language problem."_

_"Fuck you."_

_"This is what I mean. You've been much more irritable than normal."_

_"That's because you've been getting on my fuckin' nerves."_

_"You've not been my favourite person today either." Gax pulled the screen down so 89P13 could see his vitals. His creator had checked his heart, lungs, kidney, liver and stomach for any problems and had found none. 89P13's brain was always scanned last and patches attached to his head to monitor his brain's health. The Aakon traced the bright lines and said; "Ah."_

_"What?"_

_"You're exhausted, that's what. This line here shows how well your brain has rested. You haven't been sleeping."_

_"I...tried."_

_"It doesn't matter that you tried. What matters is that you didn't."_

_"I can't." 89P13 mumbled._

_"What is it? I can black out the window if the moonlight is too strong."_

_"It isn't that."_

_"Is there a sound that's keeping you awake?"_

_89P13 shook his head. He didn't want to tell his creator the real reason, that he was too scared of the upcoming brain surgery which was now only three sleeps away. Surgeries always happened no matter what and Gax got mad when 89P13 dared protest against them. He hated surgeries. More than that, he feared them._

_Gax must have gotten tired of waiting because he used a hand to shift 89P13 closer to himself and said; "If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you. You know that."_

_"You won't help me." 89P13 told his creator._

_"What? Of course I'll help you." When the test subject gave him a disbelieving look, the Aakon frowned. "Tell me what's wrong. Now."_

_"No point."_

_"Tell me now or I'll whip you unconscious."_

_His creator didn't do empty threats, 89P13 knew all too well. A lecture was better than a whipping. "I don't want the surgery," he whispered._

_"I might have guessed." Gax said. "You can't feel what I do during the surgery, 89P13. The brain has literally no feeling and I'm always careful. You know that."_

_"But you shave my head and...and cut it and then you get the saw out and it hurts_ really _bad."_

_"The pain won't last forever and the cutting takes barely any time at all. And I always heal you afterwards, don't I?"_

_It was hard to argue when the Aakon spoke so gently. But 89P13 so dreaded the surgery. "Please, Gax. Don't operate."_

_"You know it must be done."_

_"I don't want it!"_

"Calm down."

_This, of course, made 89P13 even less calm. "I don't want it! Please don't do it, please!"_

_"You need it to become better. I want the best for you and that means alterations to your body."_

_"I don't need any more!"_

_"You do. Your brain is still developing and it needs help to moderate how it grows."_

_"Then you should've made my brain better before you put it in my head."_

_"You're not a robot, you know. I didn't build you, I made you. There's a difference."_

_"I still don't want the surgery!"_

_"Maybe not, but a lack of sleep is going to make your brain sick. That means you'll need more brain surgeries-"_

_"No!"_

_"Then catch up on the sleep you missed or you'll find yourself on the table a lot more. Are we understood?"_

_"But then I'll sleep even worse!" 89P13 said. "Don't you understand? Surgery is keeping me up at night and the more surgery I get, the harder it is to sleep!"_

_"It's an act of rebellion, that's what it is. You think that if you can sabotage it in any way, the surgery won't happen. It will."_

_"I'm not rebelling!" 89P13 snapped. "I'm_ scared."

_"So stop being scared. I've told you that the pain won't last and I promised that the surgery will go well. What more do you want?"_

_"Some painkillers would be nice."_

_"You don't have any." Gax stood and lifted 89P13 to eye level. "It's going to happen and you'll be better for it. It would really help your brain feel better if you were to get plenty of rest and sleep before the surgery. You're getting frustrated and illogical now because you haven't slept."_

_"It's not illogical to not want to be cut open while conscious of everything."_

_"We're not discussing this again. When you've had enough rest, you'll be able to understand more clearly. You can have an extra hour in the morning."_

_It wasn't the extra hour that 89P13 wanted, but he could see there was no point in annoying Gax by reminding him of the truth. "But I can't sleep."_

_"You'd better." Gax said in the kind of tone that promised pain if 89P13 didn't do as he wanted. "Unless you really do want to be whipped unconscious."_

* * *

Rocket couldn't sleep. That alone wasn't so unusual. Every so often his brain wouldn't switch off, so he would take himself off to his workspace to invent things or find something that needed fixing and promptly do just that until his brain whirred down and he wanted to sleep. It wasn't unusual to find him curled up on the pilot seat and for him to wake up to find Quill awkwardly manoevuring the ship while standing because the man hadn't wanted to wake him up.

The problem was that his usual trick of exhausting himself through fixing things wasn't working and now people had realised that he hadn't slept in quite some time. The worst part, the very worst part, was that even he knew that it was unhealthy for him, yet he couldn't do the one thing that he knew would help. He was afraid that the more time he spent with Drax, the more attached the man would become, and Rocket didn't want that.  
He'd never gone so long without sleep before and in spite of feeling mentally tired, his body just wouldn't quit. He had bypassed irritability and had now gone into unexplored territory when it came to lack of sleep. He felt on edge, like everything was wobbling around and beneath him and he didn't know what emotion was going to come out next, be it apathy, anger or something else entirely. 

He so _wanted_ to sleep. But there was no use in trying because his brain just wouldn't turn off. He remembered everything Gavaar had told him about how a lack of sleep would first weaken him, then damage his brain and would, if undealt with, kill him. Rocket thought of who would look after Groot if he suddenly died and what would Drax think if he found another one of his children dead and set off to the man's cabin before his overworked brain could fully come to terms with its own decision. Standing at Drax's door reminded him of the first time he'd gone to the man to see if he would brush his fur and he was just about to step away when there was the sound of a hand hitting a button and the door opened, leaving Rocket with little other choice but to go inside. He couldn't go another night without sleep again. It would kill him.

Drax was clearly as aware of this as Rocket was, because he wasted no time in depositing him gently on a pillow and smoothing the back of his head until Rocket's eyes fluttered. He didn't say a single word for a long time and when Rocket still hadn't fallen asleep, he didn't get mad. Instead, he got up from the bed and lit a flame inside the sapphire lamp and then shut off the main light that had lit up the small room, so all Rocket could see was a soft indigo glow. "It happens to everyone."

"What?"

"Being unable to sleep."

"Been trying."

"That's most likely the problem." Drax sat back on the bed and then lay on his side, no trace of anger or irritation in his eyes. If it was Gavaar who knew that Rocket hadn't slept in twelve days, the mechanic knew he'd be bloody and whimpering by now. But this was Drax and Drax wouldn't hurt him. Drax took care of him, Drax loved him like he would a son for _real_ , even after Rocket had tried his hardest to deny that he wanted that love. "When you try to do something natural, it becomes more difficult because you're aware of it.  It's like breathing. You do it automatically, but once you start focusing on it, you do it manually."

And, dammit, the jerk was right. Rocket managed a half-hearted glare. _"Screw_ you for telling me that."

"I find it amusing and so will you when you tell somebody." Drax pulled the pillow nearer to himself and helped Rocket to sit up, resting his hand across his back for support. "If you can, do not think of sleep. What will help is a pleasant environment-" he nodded at the deep blue lamp which had lit up the room. "-and something to settle your mind. Something which relaxes you."

"Blowin' things up relaxes me."

Drax snorted. "It does not. I've seen you when you've caused something to explode. You laugh yourself breathless and then move on to the next target."

"It relaxes me."

"It's not the only thing to do that." Drax said. "Come on, we must think of something before your health starts to worsen."

"It's already bad." Rocket muttered. He'd never gone so long without sleep. It was only because of the cybernetics in his brain that it wasn't now severely damaged. 

"Then let's not allow it to get worse." Drax paused and thought for a moment. "I know, a tale!"

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me? I'm seven years old, I don't need a fucking bedtime story!"

"You'll like this one, I promise-"

"How the hell would you know?"

"Because it isn't the kind of tale you'd tell Groot. My father would tell me stories of mighty warriors who left a path of blood in their wake as they sought vengeance against those who wronged them."

Rocket's ears pricked. "I _do_ like a good revenge story."

Drax smiled. "Good. Would you like one with my brother or sister in it?"

Rocket blinked. "I thought you said they were tales with mighty warriors."

"Am I not a mighty warrior?"

If Drax wanted to tell a story about the times he had fought with his siblings, that was fine by Rocket. "I don't mind which one. Surprise me."

* * *

_That morning Gakhsi had a suspicion that 89P13 had, despite being warned if he chose not to, not slept again. The future weapon was a lot quieter and more docile than he had been recently, when his sleep deprivation had first become obvious. What had then gone on to happen was admittedly Gakhshi's fault. He couldn't blame 89P13, even if he tried._

_He had put 89P13 on his knee at the end of the day while he accessed the notes and, by the time he had finished, 89P13 had curled up in a tiny ball and fallen asleep. Gakhsi didn't like to go out of the routine, but the test subject hadn't slept in two days and there wasn't a chance in hell that Gakhsi would wake him from a much-needed slumber. There was a problem, however, in that he couldn't physically move 89P13 without him potentially waking up. It wasn't worth the risk. There was another risk in Master, because the Kree had a deep voice that could be very loud when he wanted it to be. And, of course, he could see 89P13 asleep on Gakhsi's lap and think that the Aakon was growing attached after all._

_Buzz._

_Buzz._

_Buzz._

_Oh, gods, what was he going to say?  Gakhsi held the pager as far from 89P13 as he could manage and pressed the answer button, hoping that Master was in as quiet a modd as the weapon he'd commissioned. "Master."_ 'Please be quiet so 89P13 doesn't wake up.'

_"It's late for you to be awake."_

_It was. Away from Hala or not, he was still bound by the rules he'd been following since he was eight years old. "I know. I'll sleep soon."_

_"Why are you still in Keeping Room 57?"_

'He knows.' _Gakhsi immediately thought. And the best thing to do was always to tell Master the truth, no matter how terrifying it was, especially if the Kree appeared to know it already."89P13 fell asleep on me."_

_"It did what? How?"_

_So Master_ hadn't _known. "He - It hadn't slept the past two days and today its tiredness caught up with him and h - it fell asleep on me. If I move, he will wake up."_

_"And this is a problem to you? Toss the weapon back into its cage."_

_"But I'll have to move to do that."_

_"I cannot believe that I'm being argued with over something so simple. Fifteen, all you have to do is take it by the back of its neck, stand up and drop it back into its cage."_

_Gakhsi stared at the Kree longer than was considered polite. "But that will wake him up. What if he can't sleep again?"_

_"If it refuses to sleep it again, whip it unconscious. It worked for you." The Kree frowned a bit. "Where is it? I don't see the weapon anywhere near you."_

_"He's...he's on my lap, Master."_

_It didn't take long for his Master to react. Rather than the cold tones or stern voice raising Gakhsi had come to know and expect, his Master sighed as though heavily disappointed and said;_ "Fifteen."

_"I know. It was an accident. I didn't think he'd sleep on me."_

_"It was sleep deprived as you say, and you put it on your lap. What did you expect would happen?"_

_"It was stupid."_

_"Not the cleverest thing you've ever done." Master agreed. "I know you had reservations about creating an Uplifted weapon. I remember your reasons for not wanting to make one. Do those reasons still exist?"_

_They did. He had heard of how Uplifts could go wrong, how Uplifts in infancy were effectively young children and he had learned in books that becoming an Uplift was a painful process for the animal. But he ignored those reasons. He had to if he wanted to be free. "No, Master."_

_"Maybe you would have been better with an older beast." Master said. "It must be difficult to raise something so like a child to be a weapon while knowing you can't have any children of your own."_

_"I don't think of or treat 89P13 as a child."_

_"Then stop being so soft on it. Get it back into its cage and if it wakes, make it go back to sleep if it dares to wake up."_

_Gakhsi hadn't thought he'd been soft on 89P13, but no idea was more stupid than arguing with the master about something. "I will."_

_"Is there anything else I should know about?"_

_"It's...all fine. Health is good, despite the sleeping problem, so he should be fine. It should be fine."_

_"Let me know as soon as the surgery is finished."_

_"Of course." Gakhsi nodded a farewell and closed his eyes once his master was gone. 89P13 hadn't so much as stirred throughout the entire conversation, which was a promising sign. 'Please don't wake up,' he thought desparately as he edged his hands underneath the Uplift._ 'Please have a decent night of sleep.' 

_89P13 turned his head. He mumbled. But he did not wake up, even as Gakhsi stood and started walking very very slowly to the future weapon's sleeping area. It was almost like he knew not to wake up. Either that or he had been even more exhausted than either of them knew._

'Stay asleep, stay asleep...' _The cage door was mercifully silent as Gakhsi opened it and he held his breath whilst lowering his little test subject down to the cold metal floor. 89P13 tensed up and Gakhsi froze, but soon 89P13 relaxed again, although he did hold onto Gakhsi's sleeve, inadvertenently revealing the small tracker on the Aakon's arm. Gakhsi hated the tracker. It made him feel like livestock._

_"Father." 89P13 breathed and he let go of Gakhsi's sleeve, still dead to the world._

'He doesn't really think that. He's fast asleep.' _Gakhsi thought, closing the lid down so it clamped together to keep the test subject inside its barred walls. "No. No one's father." That was not in Gakhsi's future. But maybe, if fate was kind, it would be in 89P13's._

* * *

It had worked, as Drax had known it would. His own father had told him and his siblings stories of legendary warriors, like Rocket had been expecting, but it had been old family stories that had lulled Ferys' children into sleep. Somewhere in the middle of the second story, Rocket had put his head on Drax's knee and eventually migrated so he had fallen asleep directly in his lap. Drax had no idea how Rocket could be anywhere near comfortable in the twisted position he'd put himself in, but he appeared happy enough.

Now the only real problem Drax had left in need of solving was just how was he going to move someone who was the second lightest sleeper on the entire ship? 'No need to be wary, I have done this before.' Drax reasoned with himself, thinking back to only a handful of months ago when Rocket had fallen asleep in his workspace. All he had to do was be careful and avoid the area beneath Rocket's arms at all costs. The warrior had learned that to go anywhere near them would cause distress, even whilst sleeping. He slid one arm underneath Rocket's neck and then under his shoulders and then lay back, attempting to keep both himself and the smaller one as still as possible. For fourteen blissful months, he had done the same thing with Kamaria and he tensed when Rocket stirred, but he was only repositioning himself, and soon settled again, rubbing his soft, furry face against Drax's shoulder. _'He feels safe,'_ Drax realised. _'He might even feel happy.'_

Rocket curled up sharply. An ear twitched. "No...no, don't. Gax, I couldn't... _don't!"_

It seemed that Rocket had not, after all, felt either safety or happiness. Drax knew better than to touch Rocket when he was frightened, but this knowledge made it no easier to watch him being fearful. He could only try to change the outcome of the bad dream. He reached under his bed and found the scar oil which had brought Rocket so much comfort during the month-long hospital stay all those months ago and let some drop onto his shoulder. Many times, Drax's own father had used this trick when bringing his siblings back from a bad dream and Drax just hoped it would work on someone who had been modified into owning genius-level intellect. 

Rocket stilled again. The calming effect was immediate as it had ever been and he relaxed, no longer a tense little ball of fear. One eye opened, although it was very clear to Drax that its owner was mostly still asleep. "You're really here," he mumbled and he let his eye droop shut again. 

"Yes, I'm here. He can't hurt you now."

Drax didn't think Rocket was even slightly awake, but there was absolutely no denying that he murmured; "Dad."

He knew, of course, that Rocket wasn't in his normal state of mind, being almost entirely asleep. He also knew that one man's abysmal interpretation of what it was to be a father had completely ruined Rocket's longing for one. So he didn't take Rocket entirely seriously when that single word reached his ears. _'Only when you are wide awake, fully sober and entirely sure that's what you want,'_ he thought. It was perfectly fine if that day never came, but it was clear to him that Rocket knew to come to him if and when it did. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, guys! I hit a snag with the Next Big One, but things are coming along nicely, I'm pleased to report! Thank you for your patience!
> 
> P.S. HalfWorldLife, your reviews are like food, water, air and sunlight and I thank you heartily for them!
> 
> P.S.S. Woozle, I know you love sleepy Rocket, hurt/comfort nightmares and Drax being a total dad (three things we have in common!) so here you go and thanks for everything as always!


	17. Rules 13 & 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Normalcy means different things to different people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is dedicated to BootStrap who requested Rules 13 & 41! Thank you so much for your request and your comments!

_Something smelled strange. Not bad strange, 89P13 supposed, just weird. He soon discovered the source of the strange smell from a large opaque bottle containing something pink. 89P13 liked pink. He reached for its top and began unscrewing it, wanting to know just what the mystery substance was._

_"No, don't open that." Gax separated 89P13 from his new object of interest and pointed at the bottle. "That is for you, but it needs to be diluted in water or you'll burn yourself."_

_"What is it?"_

_"It's to stop you from getting ticks." Gax set him by the basin and put some of the pink liquid inside it. "Put the hot water on for me."_

_89P13 did as asked and watched in wonder as the water filled up with pink foam and shining, multicoloured bubbles. He reached out and popped a bubble with his clawed finger, blinking as it disappeared. "Pretty."_

_Gax put a bowl of 89P13's grains down behind him and put his hand in the basin, moving it around in an attempt to get rid of the froth. It stayed. "Hmm. Hank didn't tell me this would happen. Oh, well, just keep your eyes closed when you go in or they'll sting." He pointed at the bowl. "Eat your food."_

_"Can I eat in there?" 89P13 asked, pointing at the basin._

_"Does this place look like a fucking spa to you? No, you can't eat in the bath."_

_89P13 scowled at his creator, but began eating anyway. Soon the grains were gone and Gax let him slide in the basin by himself. It was just hot enough that 89P13 wasn't burning up instantly and he found that the foam lathered when he rubbed it into his fur. "This stuff is weird," he told his creator._

_"Yeah, I know. Turn around so I can do your back."_

_89P13 turned, unable to keep from flinching as Gax touched around his external spine. "I like the bubbles, though."_

_"Don't get too attached, you won't get them very much." Gax took out the plug and 89P13 felt the water vanish. "Done. It's gotten pretty clogged into your fur, so it might take a long time to get it all out."_

_"Where did you get it from again?"_

_"A Terran called Hank. He has five weapons he's making."_

_"Weapons like me."_

_"That's right." Gax started the shower up and both of them watched as tiny bubbles ran down the drain. "But not as advanced as you."_

_"Are there lots of other weapons here?"_

_"Yes." Gax answered after a moment's pause. "But what do they matter?"_

_"They...don't?"_

_"Of course not. They're not our problem. Okay," Gax turned the shower off. "All done."_

_89P13 couldn't say much as Gax started vigorously drying him with one of the rough thin towels. To his, and undoubtedly Gax's, surprise the towel was pink. They both stared at it and then 89P13 suddenly realised that his fur was more purple-toned than usual. He met his creator's eyes and quickly realised that Gax was just as confused as he was. "Gax...why am I a different colour?"_

_"I'll call Hank."_

_"I don't like being purple." 89P13 said anxiously as Gax pulled out the screen. "I like my own colour."_

_"Don't worry, I'll fix this. Come here." Gax picked him up, towel and all, so he could see the screen. "Hank is Terran and Terrans aren't very smart, so we might need to actually show him our little problem for him to understand."_

_89P13 had never seen an actual Terran before. He was concerned that the man might be scary to look at, like A'askavarians were, so he pulled the towel up a bit so he could block his view if he needed to._

_To 89P13's relief, Hank was not scary. He was a heavily bearded man with black curly hair, dark brown skin and warm brown eyes. He pushed a pair of thick black spectacles up from where they had slid down his nose and smiled briefly. "Everything okay?"_

_"No. Your delousing stuff turned 89P13 a very deep shade of plum."_

_Hank looked closer at 89P13 through his spectacles. He nodded, clearly having seen the unique colouring. "I think he looks very nice, Gax. Brings out the amber in his eyes."_

_89P13 had never had a compliment like that before and he decided he liked Hank, even if the Terran had accidentally caused him to turn purple._

_"Jacobs, this is serious. I can't sell him when he looks like one of your homeworld's eggplants!"_

_Hank chuckled. "Gax, lighten up. It'll fade in a couple of days."_

_"How many days?"_

_"Two, maybe two and a half. The same thing happened to mine. They turned lavender. It was a sight to behold, I tell you."_

_"But I don't_ want _to be purple for two days!" 89P13 protested._

_Hank blinked at him. "My goodness, you really can talk as well as Gax says. I'm still at the broken English stage-"_

_"Hank," Gax interrupted. "For the love of the gods, how the_ fuck _do I get this stuff out of his fur?"_

_Hank looked appalled and put a finger to his mouth. "Gax! Be careful, you don't want him picking up on that kind of language do you?"_

_"Too fucking late." 89P13 muttered._

_Hank looked even more appalled._ "My God."

_"Jacobs, if you don't tell me right this second, I will come down to your room and cram all five of your little test subjects directly up your ass."_

_"I'd never let you touch my babies." Hank said and there was no more warmth, no more shock. The look in his eyes promised a fight. "And they're not test subjects."_

_Gax didn't react to Hank's new hostility. "How do I get it out of his fur?"_

_"It has to stay in. It needs time to work properly. Two days and it will be gone." Hank reached toward the screen and disappeared._

_"Shit." Gax muttered. "Alright, you're going to have to be a strange colour for a couple of days. At least you won't get ticks."_

_"Hank said 'babies'." 89P13 said quietly. "What did he mean?" Did the Terran have his own actual_ children _in the lab?_

_"Hank is attached to his test subjects." Gax said._

_"Now, listen to me very carefully. You might feel a tingle on your skin because of the solution, but whatever you do, you mustn't scratch. You'll only hurt yourself and leave yourself at greater risk of infections. Do you understand?"_

_"I never want this stuff again." 89P13 muttered. "It turned me purple and now I'm gonna itch."_

_"You'll have something different next time, I promise."_

_"Why haven't_ you _turned purple?"_

_"Because my skin doesn't react to chemicals like yours does."_

_"Why didn't you use your skin cells when creating me?"_

_"Because hypersensitive skin like yours is far more useful to have." Gax said, taking him over to the cage area. "Would you prefer being able to identify objects by touch alone or the ability to handle heat?"_

_"If I could handle heat, I could fly closer to stars than the simulations recommend." 89P13 pointed out._

_Gax huffed. "When I made you, I did it with care. Do you know which senses are the first to go with old age?"_

_89P13 didn't know. Gax hadn't really talked much about what would happen when he got old, just that eventually he would and would need additional enhancements to keep him alive. "No."_

_"First to go is your sense of smell. With that goes your sense of taste. Then sight. Touch is the second from last to go. Hearing is the final sense to leave before you die. But your sense of touch is so powerful that it will probably be the last sense of yours to go. Touch will also be the most difficult to restore. Isn't that so much better than being able to take additional warmth?"_

_"I...I guess."_

_"That's right. Can I trust you not to scratch yourself all night?"_

_"I won't scratch, I promise."_

_"Good boy." Gax put him into the grey cage he called home and shut the door. "Make sure to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."_

* * *

 

The new stuff was okay. Smelled nicer, looked better, didn't make him itch and didn't leave him dyed any weird colours. That wasn't to say that he wasn't acutely aware that something was on his fur and that something felt fucking weird. All he wanted to do was lick the stuff away, at least on his arms, but every time he even thought of it, his tongue hurt, then his stomach ached and he remembered the last time he licked the remnants of anti-tick stuff from his body.

Still, he had a man happy to help him with this little problem.

"You're sure if the brush gets clogged up with this crap-"

"It will be fine." Drax assured him. "Or I wouldn't have offered."

Drax never ever bullshitted him, so Rocket ignored his few worries and soon relaxed as the brush went between his ears. It didn't help the feeling that he was covered in something strange, but it did help him feel a little better. Five minutes in, without even thinking about it, he licked the back of his wrist and couldn't stop himself from licking all over the forearm. That felt a lot better until he realised what he'd done.

"Are you alright? You've gone tense."

"Uh, yeah, fine. It's all fine."

Drax was clearly not convinced, but he didn't say so. Instead, he brushed some more and said; "The solution is safe to consume. I read the label."

Rocket just hoped that the man hadn't drank it after learning that information. "'m not scared if I get sick."

"Good, because you won't. And it's not unusual to want to remove things that feel uncomfortable to you."

"Shouldn't use my tongue, though." Rocket muttered. "Not right."

"Why not? It's lightly barbed which means it was more or less designed to help cleanse your fur."

Rocket had never thought of it like that. "I...guess that makes sense."

"I always do." Drax said sincerely. "If it helps you to feel better, you should do it. It might even be beneficial."

With that in mind, Rocket did the other arm and then both hands just to be sure that they would feel right. He felt better. A lot better. He rested his head on Drax's knee and let him brush his arms, looking directly at the ceiling. "You don't think licking is gross?"

"Everyone does it. It's natural behaviour, despite what some would have you believe. I'll bet even the scientist did it."

Rocket snorted. "I really don't think he did. Whenever I did, he'd tell me I was acting like a disgusting little animal and to knock it off unless I wanted somethin' bad to happen to me. So I'd do it in secret sometimes if I really wanted to."

"You needn't keep it a secret. It's normal. And even if it weren't, it's harmless." Drax put the brush down. "I'm glad he didn't catch you doing it those times."

Rocket looked down. "No, he didn't catch me." 

But that, of course, wasn't to say that Gavaar never found out about the rare times he did.

* * *

"Oh, good," Gax said, taking him out of his cage. "The purple colour has faded. That's lucky. Purple didn't really suit you, did it?"

89P13 shook his head. He hadn't been able to stop himself and had licked everywhere he could reach until he had finally felt better. Now his stomach was beginning to hurt and his tongue tingled unpleasantly. Normally he felt hungry, but this morning he pushed away his morning meal and looked longingly in the direction of his cage. 

"What's the matter with you?"

"Not hungry."

Gax grabbed his jaw, forcing it open. He narrowed his eyes. "Stick out your tongue."

"Why-"

"Now."

89P13 did as asked of him, not thinking for one minute that the frantic licking he had done would have coloured his tongue.

"My fucking god. Your tongue is purple. Your tongue is fucking - why is your tongue purple?!"

89P13 knew he'd been caught out and panicked. "I don't know!"

Gax clearly did. "You licked yourself!"

"No!"

"Don't lie to me! Your tongue is an unnatural colour, the purple is gone from your fur and you're telling me these things aren't linked?"

"Maybe it's a side effect-"

"If you don't tell me the truth right now, I'll cut your tongue out and install a voicebox in your throat."

89P13 winced. "It hurt," he whispered. "And I promised I wouldn't itch, so I didn't, but licking helped..."

"And you didn't miss a spot, did you?" Gax looked him over. "I'm almost impressed. You even got most of your back."

That had been the hardest part. "At...at least I don't look like a Terran eggplant any more."

"Maybe not, but that still doesn't change the fact that you clearly spent the night licking your own..." Gax trailed off. He'd never known quite what to say when more personal areas came up. 89P13 found it very funny.

"Dick," the little test subject said helpfully.

"Yes, thank you for clarifying. And this isn't funny. Why you would even consider licking there is beyond me. What if you bit something important by accident?"

89P13 started giggling. Not because biting it was funny, but because of how uncomfortable Gax clearly was with their current conversation. 

Gax pulled his ear. "This isn't funny! You know all about Rule 13!"

"Oww!" 

"Don't give me that. I know this doesn't hurt that much!"

"When I get big, I'll rip your ear off your head!"

"Hmm." Gax gave him a worryingly curious look. "What an idea." And then he yanked on 89P13's ear with what seemed like all of his strength.

89P13, sure that he was about to need a prosthetic ear, screamed as loudly as his lungs would let him.

Gax dropped him onto the unit. "Did you really think I was going to maim you like that?"

"Yes!" 89P13 whimpered, holding his ear. The muscles at its base ached painfully and he thought it must have stretched a millimetre or two. 

"How could you think that?"

"Because it's the kind of thing you'd do!"

"That's a very unfair thing for you to say. I would never cut off any of your body parts without good reason."

Most, if not all, Gax's reasons were bad reasons, but 89P13 knew better than to tell him that. He shuffled back as Gax opened a drawer the little test subject knew all too well.

"Don't."

"Open your mouth, 89P13."

89P13 pressed his lips together and shook his head. As his creator came closer, he put his hands in front of his mouth to try and protect it from being forced open...even though it had never worked before.

It didn't work this time. Gax got his jaws open and didn't react when 89P13 gagged as the barbed piece was forced inside his mouth. "The next time you think to lick yourself like that, just remember that not only will I find out about it, but I will muzzle you and I will make your tongue bleed."

89P13 had bigger problems. The stomachache coupled with gagging when he'd been muzzled had brought on a horrific sickened feeling. Maybe he'd ingested chemicals without realising that he would. Maybe it was just the barbed piece almost being rammed down his throat. Whatever it was, he knew he was going to be sick. He pointed at his snout in the hope Gax would see the look in his eyes and take the muzzle off him.

"There's no point in complaining about it. You knew what you were doing was bad and yet you decided to do it anyway."

89P13 tried to remember the signs Gax had taught him when his vocal cords had still been healing before he could talk properly. He made a fist by his stomach and brought it up to his throat. That meant 'sick'. 

It was clear that Gax didn't know if 89P13 was being honest or not. He must have come to the conclusion that 89P13, who never ever gave away information about symptoms so easily, must have been telling the truth, because he unbuckled the muzzle just as 89P13 brought up the contents of his stomach, wasting no time in getting him into the basin. "Looks like you'll be needing two showers this morning," he said when 89P13 finally finished.

"Not funny."

"I wasn't making a joke." Gax lifted him out and used the shower hose and a bottle of cleaning fluid to sanitise the basin. He found a bottle of water and gave it to 89P13. "Take little sips. If you drink too much too quickly, you'll make yourself sick again."

"The muzzle made me sick."

"Licking yourself like a badly trained dog made you sick." Gax shut off the hose. "Licking the remains of the solution introduced chemicals to your body which clearly weren't meant to be in there."

"I realise that, Gax!"

"A lot of the things we use for your care contain chemicals that aren't fit for consumption. The anti-tick solution, the soap, the cleaning products for your cage...all of which finds its way onto your fur. That's the biggest reason I hate it so much when you lick yourself. I don't want you to get sick."

But 89P13 had never gotten sick before. He guessed that because the solution had stuck to his fur, it had stayed strong, whereas the soap and cleaning products tended to dry out or dilute enough that it didn't matter. "Please don't put the muzzle on me again."

"Not today." Gax said. It was as close to an agreement as 89P13 was ever going to get from him. "I think today has taught you to why you should keep your tongue in your mouth."

89P13 could only nod.

"Let's get you hosed down."

89P13 slid back into the basin, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the cleaning stuff. The shower went on and he screeched at the temperature, which was considerably hotter than he liked it. 

"It isn't that hot! Stay quiet and keep still."

"Too hot!" 89P13 insisted. "Gax, turn it off!"

"No. Stop screaming or I'll turn it higher. You know you're not allowed to scream."

89P13 tried. But he couldn't stay still and, when Gax finally had enough and grabbed his arm to keep him in place, he wasn't able to help himself and screamed again, the sound bouncing around the basin.

Gax sighed. And, as the temperature of the water turned higher, so did the noises of the little test subject.

* * *

He woke up with a thud and lay, stunned and panting, on the cool floor for several moments, trying to figure out when he'd fallen asleep and why he was so breathless when a hand came into his view. Grey, not yellow. Safe, so he didn't knock it away. He looked at Drax, who was waiting to see if Rocket wanted any help to stand. "Why am I down here?"

"I promise that I didn't evict you." Drax said. He didn't make any move to pet behind his ears or touch him at all, but his eyes were sympathetic. "You were threshing." 

"I was?" That did explain why he had fallen onto the floor. He used Drax's hand to drag himself up and stumbled. His legs were shaking and he didn't know why. 

"You screamed."

Rocket looked away, mortified. "I'm not weak," he snarled.

"I know." Drax didn't join him as he climbed back onto the bunk, instead staying where he was. "You were scared. From what I could hear you saying, something you were dreaming about was too hot."

"It was a stupid bad dream." Rocket said, hoping that Drax would leave it there. "That's all."

"I know. But if people are afraid or hurt, they need to be able to show it. It's unhealthy to keep it inside. It's certainly not weak to scream or cry out when you need to."

"Gax said screamin's a waste of air."

"He was the waste of air."

Rocket snickered, wondering when Drax of all people had figured that out, metaphor and all. 

Drax got up to join him on the bunk, keeping a distance, but now unafraid to brush his hand over Rocket's head. "You never need to feel guilt over doing perfectly natural things. It must be difficult to forget all you were told, but I know you're healing from it."

"Don't feel like it."

"It never does."

Rocket held back a shiver and then looked upward at Drax. "Brush my fur again."

Drax smiled and found it under a pillow. "You see? Two months ago, you never would have asked. Now you do, because you know it's safe."

'Yeah, 'cause it's you and you're about as safe as it gets, even though I thought you were gonna eat me when we first met.' Rocket thought and he moved closer as the soft bristles glided down his neck. "Yeah," he said quietly. "It's safe."

 


	18. Rules 10 & 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's okay to take what you need when you can, says one dad. It's okay to drink without permission if you're not in your right mind says another. Which one is right?

**THE RULES OF THE LAB**

**1) Obey Gax at all times.  
** ** ~~2) No eating between meals, with the exception of rewards.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~3) No lying.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~4) No stealing.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~5) Subject to be clean at all times.~~   
****~~6) No drinking shower water.~~   
****~~7) No animalistic sounds.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~8) No animalistic posturing.~~   
****~~9) No eating without permission~~.  
** ** ~~10) No drinking without permission.~~   
****~~11) No digging through walls.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~12) No mentioning the brush.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~13) No licking body clean.~~   
****14) No engaging in risky behaviour.  
** ** ~~15) No rudeness~~.  
** ** ~~16) No cuddling.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~17) No being difficult.~~  **   
**~~18) No going away with strangers, unless permitted.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~19) No escape attempts.~~   
****~~20) Tell Gax if you feel unwell.~~ **  ~~  
~~**21) No breakages.  
** ** ~~22) Get enough sleep.~~   
****~~23) No wandering off.~~   
****~~24) No refusal of medicine.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~25) Never mention the prototypes.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~26) No refusal of punishment.~~   
****27) No hiding.  
** ** ~~28) No playing.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~29) No arguing.~~ **  ~~  
~~**~~30) No secrets.~~ **  ~~  
~~**31) No spitting.  
** **32) No hitting.  
** ** ~~33) Keep reacting to stimulus at a minimum.~~  **   
**34) No throwing objects, unless instructed to do so.  
** ** ~~35) Use your voice when spoken to.~~   
****36) Always look Gax in the eyes.  
** ** ~~37) No complaining about surgeries.~~ **  ~~  
~~**38) Understand that everything is for your own good.  
** ** ~~39) No crying for longer than 30 seconds.~~  **   
**40) No being distracted.  
** ** ~~41) No screaming.~~   
****~~42) No begging.~~   
****43) No wasting of resources.  
** ** ~~44) No lock picking.~~   
****~~45) No taking objects into Home.~~  **   
**~~46) No backchat.~~  **   
**~~47) No taking sensory toys out, unless permitted.~~  **   
**~~48) What Gax says goes - there will not be any change of mind.~~  **   
**49) Don't fight when Gax gets you out of Home.  
** **** ~~50) No asking for anything.~~

 

89P13 had medicine. He didn't always like medicine, but this one smelled nice and he liked the pretty blue colour. He tried his hardest to read the label, but it was in a language he didn't understand yet, so he pulled on Gax's sleeve and then pointed at the label. "What's this? When can I have it? Why is it in such a huge bottle?"

"That's medication to keep your brain healthy. You can have it before you go to bed because it'll make you drowsy, and it's in a large bottle because it needs to be syringed into your buccal cavity." Gax pointed to 89P13's jawbone. "The cavity is in your mouth, close to your molars, between your gums and the inside of your cheeks. Shouldn't be painful."

89P13 looked at the bottle again. It seemed very big to him, being half of his size. "I don't know if I should drink it all. There's so much, I'll pee all night."

"You don't need to drink it all. You need two millilitres and then you shouldn't need any more."

"Why do I need it now?" 89P13 asked. He'd never had it before.

"Because your brain is growing very quickly and this can sometimes lead to seizures." Gax said. "Seizures are very uncomfortable and can lead to brain damage or even death, depending on the type."

"So the medicine stops seizures?"

"It...it helps your brain to adapt to its growth. As you get older, your brain won't develop so quickly, so you won't have as much risk of a seizure." 

"Why won't my brain develop so quickly?"

"Because this is your first year of life, so your brain is absorbing all the information it can get. It needs to grow bigger so it can store all the information and it wants to grow as quickly as it can so it can have plenty of room."

89P13 wasn't so sure, but he wasn't as knowledgable on medicine as his creator was, so he accepted his words. "Can I have a grape if I have the medicine?"

"Hmm. Maybe. If you keep still and quiet when you're having it, I'm sure a grape might just appear for you."

Needless to say, 89P13 was very pleased with this arrangement. It felt like weeks since he'd last had a grape. "Can I have a grape now?"

"Have you done anything to deserve one?" 

"Um...not yet."

Gax pulled 89P13's ear a little roughly. "Not yet," he agreed. "I don't want you to get overfilled before you go to bed, so tonight you can have your meal before your shower and then have the medicine." At 89P13's piercing stare, he sighed and added; "And your grape. I didn't forget, you know."

89P13 normally liked his mealtime, but today he was impatient for it to end so he could have his grape. He still wondered about the language on the label, though, and asked Gax if he would read it to him after his shower. Mostly it was a bunch of ingredients with names 89P13 could barely repeat and instructions on how to take it. Boring things that only creators needed to know. "Will the medicine hurt my mouth?" 89P13 asked Gax as a long syringe was poked into the bottle. He didn't know if he liked the look of the syringe. It looked too much like a needle. 

"It shouldn't." Gax said, which wasn't much of a comfort. "Open your mouth."

89P13 looked at the needle-like syringe. "Will...will the syringe hurt?"

"It won't hurt, but it might feel uncomfortable for a couple of seconds. The sooner you open your mouth, the sooner we can get this done with."  
89P13 wasn't sure, but he opened his mouth the tiniest bit and flinched as the syringe went inside. It was uncomfortable, but at least it wasn't painful, even if it did leave a funny taste in his mouth. He didn't have long to dwell on it, as a grape was placed on his tongue and he could only chew it in order to get rid of the taste.

"You were good."

"Can I have another grape as a reward?"

"Only if you'd measured it out and given it to yourself."

89P13's legs wobbled and he chose to sit down rather than fall down. His mouth also felt rather dry and he thought longingly of the water bottle in his cage.

"You're getting drowsy, like I said you would." Gax said. "Don't move, I need to throw out the syringe. Then you can go back to your home and sleep it off."

"Thirsty." 89P13 mumbled. "Water."

"Just side effects. You'll be back to normal in the morning."

89P13's eyes moved from the direction of his cage to the medicine before him. In his normal state of mind, he knew very well that drinking too much medicine would make him poorly and he knew that medicine was absolutely not a drink, but he couldn't think straight and turned the bottle onto its side. It had a strange cap with a tiny cylinder on the top of a plastic pyramid and he somehow managed to put his mouth onto the cap. He tried to drink it, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get more than a tiny, tiny droplet into his mouth which only made him thirstier.

"No!" 

Hands were on 89P13, moving him away from the bottle. He shook his head weakly. "Couldn't get it."

"Were you trying to kill yourself? You know how dangerous drinking things like that is!" 89P13's eyes closed and before his consciousness fully left him, he thought he heard his creator say; "You'll be the death of me."

* * *

"Get out, both of you," the bartender said. "We don't serve pets or verminous pests, even if they belong to heroes."

"Yeah? Well, fuck you too, you assfaced motherfucker."

"It's not my fault, it's the policy. And I'm sure we don't serve insectoids. As I said, no pests and no animals. In fact," the bartender looked over their faces disdainfully. "I'd say you were less than animals."

It had been a mistake, Rocket realised. A mistake to let Mantis choose the bar, because of course she went for the prettiest, sparkliest one and a mistake to go with just her. She was just too nice to call people horrible words and let them know what she thought of them.

She was not, however, too nice to use her powers for her own advantage.

The Empath took a quick look around the mostly empty bar, then at Rocket for approval and took the bartender's hand. "Sleep," she whispered. 

As the man collapsed into a snoring heap, Rocket jumped onto the counter, letting the claws on his toes scratch lines into the polished black surface. "I love it when you knock people out."

"I make them sleep, puppy, I don't knock them out."

"Hey! We talked about this. What do you call me in public?

"Rocket."

"That's right." The last thing he wanted was for the entire galaxy to call him 'Puppy'. "An' he looks pretty knocked out to me."

"I think we're all alone here. Does that mean we can have free drinks?" Mantis smiled suddenly and clasped her hands together. "We can make our own cocktails!"

That was a pretty good idea, but Rocket looked down at the bartender who was still soundly asleep on the floor and noted the yellow-hued skin. He wasn't an Aakon, the skin was too dark a shade, but Rocket still hesitated.

"It would be fun." Mantis pestered. "Please, Rocket, say 'yes' and then we might get hammered, like you said we would!"

He had said that. He'd promised her they'd get drunk and have a fun night together. "Who needs permission, right?" Rocket asked her, deciding to ignore the bartender. He wasn't some lab rat anymore, needing permission to drink things that weren't in the bunch of bars he called home.

"Not us?" Mantis didn't wait for an answer. She went around the counter and found two comically large glasses and then, after a second of thought, put a straw in each one.

"What should we do first?"

"Pick what you want and mix it all up. That's all a cocktail is. Make sure to add some juice for flavour." Time to put the liver Lylla had made for him to the test. 

Somehow Mantis managed to make hers utterly black, but then she discovered a small refrigerator which had multiple boxes of various fruit which she methodically stuck around the rim of her giant glass. 

"Quit snacking on the fruit and give me some."

Mantis slid the box over and giggled when she saw his glass. "That looks like blood! What did you put in there?"

"Alaaxian vodka, Sakaaran redberry gin and apple juice from Xandar. Final touch are those blue Mobian cherries." Copying Mantis' technique, he decorated his glass and clinked it against hers. "Here's to free drinks for life." The drink was strong. He'd probably overfilled his glass, but after the first drink, he couldn't care less. He felt like he had when he'd first discovered alcohol and shook his head a little to fend off the dizziness. "Yours good?"

"It's the best drink ever." Mantis plucked a cherry off her glass and threw it in the air, catching it in her mouth. "This is fun!"

Rocket threw a cherry too and grinned as she managed to catch it. "You're really good at this, y'know."

"I had to amuse myself often as a child."

"It's a bitch." Rocket said, knowing full well that it was. "Throw one at me. I never done this before. Try me."

Mantis sipped more of her drink through her straw and picked up a stray apple cube with a shaking hand. It bounced off Rocket's nose and she giggled, apparently finding it hilarious.

Groot had done that when Rocket had met him for the second time. Not on purpose. He'd been giving Rocket something that he hadn't wanted, but known that Rocket had and had accidentally thrown a grape at his nose. Even found it a little funny. Which it kinda had been. Rocket rubbed his nose, grabbed a greenberry and threw it at Mantis' nose, laughing when it hit its target. "Gotcha!"

"Mine was an accident!" Mantis protested as Rocket sipped down more of his drink. "Can I try some of yours? It looks nice. You can have some of mine."

He was intrigued by Mantis' drink. He swapped the straws around and incautiously sipped the black liquid. It didn't taste as worrying as it looked. He could taste starberry gin from Kylos, nightfruit from Astra and the juice from the fruits around the glass had bled into the drink, giving it a great aftertaste. "You really know how to make a cocktail."

Mantis looked at him very seriously and said; "Puppy, I ate your fruit."

So she had. The bright blue cherries were all gone. "It's okay. I tell you what. I'll eat your fruit and then we'll be even."

"And I want this cocktail instead."

"Knock yourself out. I like yours better anyway. Bet I can drink this faster'n you can drink that."

"What do I get for a prize?"

"You get...you get...no, the winner gets to loot that piece of shit for valuables. The loser has to...has to...locate and open the safe for cash and other stuff."

Mantis nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Three...two..." Without getting to 'one', Rocket began sucking through the straw as fast as he could. Within seconds, he'd finished and Mantis was barely 3/4 of the way through. "Look at that, I won!"

"You cheated!"

"Best way to win. Get on the safe. I got a gun you can shoot it open with if you need to."

"I'm going to tell Drax that you cheated." Mantis said as she stumbled around looking for the safe. "I'll tell him and he'll say 'Puppy, why did you cheat?' and..."

"Don't be a tattler, no one likes those." Rocket looked in the pockets of the bartender's jacket, finding an old button and a beat up wallet containing no less than twenty units. "And he won't be mad. He'll find it funny, the big ol' jerk."

"I never knew a man could laugh so much before I met Drax." Mantis said. "Puppy, I can't find the safe."

"Look under the register." Rocket noticed a gold chain around the bartender's neck and unclasped it. Gold could be valuable in certain places. He didn't think the bartender had much else on him, so he went to join Mantis. "Looks like a job for a bullet to me."

Mantis stood up slowly as the door opened. She smiled. "Hi!"

"Who's it?" Rocket asked, aiming his weapon at the safe. "If it's the feds, tell 'em we saved their asses twice and to go fuck themselves."

"It's Drax." Mantis said. "Drax, guess what? We made cocktails and we're going to blow up the safe."

"I think that would also damage the items inside."

"What kinda bullshit logic is that?" Rocket asked, looking up as the man peered over the counter at him. "Blowing up a safe is gonna break the stuff in there? Pfft. That's a load of shit." Then he noticed the bulging muscles and had a new, better idea. "I know. You could rip the safe door off its hinges. Then all our problems will go away."

Drax apparently disagreed. "I would enjoy that, but I came here to accompany you back to the ship. I heard a person calling the authorities, saying that an insect-like woman killed a man..?"

"He's not dead!" Mantis insisted. "He's sleeping."

"I see that, but we had better get you away from here. You're both too intoxicated for prison."

A hangover in prison was no fun at all, but Rocket wanted the safe opened. "Can we take the safe with us?"

"I'm afraid not. It might be tracked."

"Aw, crap. Fine." Rocket let Drax put him on his shoulder and watched as he helped Mantis put an arm around his shoulders. "I just want you to know that the bar guy was an asshole."

"An assface." Mantis mumbled.

"He was an assface." Rocket confirmed. "Called her an insectoid, 'n called me a verminous pest. He called us less than animals."

Drax stopped dead, took the gun out of Rocket's hands and set it to stun before shooting the bartender in the groin. "I'm sure he will have learned his lesson when he awakens."

"Gonna suck for him when he does." Rocket said as Drax started moving again. 

"He was mean." Mantis reminded him. "And he was rude to us."

"And you didn't let him get away with it. I'm glad you fought back and managed to enjoy yourselves, even if it was only for a short time."

"Nah, it was fun." Rocket caught Mantis' eye and smiled. "We should do it again sometime."

* * *

 

_89P13 felt dizzy when he first woke up. His tongue felt like sandpaper and he dragged himself to his water bottle, taking short, desparate gulps from it. He was acutely aware of the door opening, then the cage being opened, but he was left alone to finish his drink, much to his relief. He emptied his bottle and licked his mouth for any droplets that might have escaped before raising his arms to let Gax take him out. He didn't normally like to be carried or picked up, but today he was glad of a larger creature who was willing to do these things. "'m dizzy. I think I hit my head."_

_"No, you didn't hit your head. You were dehydrated, but now you've solved the problem by drinking all that water. You should feel better soon."_

_89P13 didn't want to have his shower yet and he was certainly too dizzy to consider eating his morning meal. "Can I have my shower and food later?"_

_"You'd only choke or vomit if I tried to feed you now, but I think you could handle a shower."_

_All 89P13 could really do, as he was placed into the basin, was bat uselessly at his creator's hands as warm water was sprayed over him and then the soap was rubbed roughly into his fur. "Don't want my shower," he reminded Gax through gritted teeth._

_"Tough luck. You need one."_

_"You need one."_

_"Stop being a brat."_

_"You're a - ow!" 89P13 rubbed his ear where Gax had harshly pulled it._

_"That," said Gax as he wrapped a towel around 89P13, "was an incentive for you to come up with something more orginal than the 'no you' response when you're trying to get back at people. You're better than that."_

_89P13 would have helped to dry himself off, but today he wasn't feeling well enough to do it. "When will I be back to normal?"_

_"You'll stop being dehydrated soon. The dizziness will go in five minutes if you keep still, relax and close your eyes." Gax half-smiled. "Think you can do that?"_

_89P13 wasn't sure it would work. But, sure enough, after five minutes, 89P13 felt much better than he had. "You were right," he said, hardly able to believe it._

_"You sound surprised."_

_"Well, yeah, I thought it was too easy a fix to actually work. How did you know it'd work?"_

_"Because I did." Gax pushed his jaw upwards, apparently wanting his full attention. "Do you remember what happened before you went to bed last night?"_

_89P13 thought. He tried his best to remember, but all he could remember was being thirsty and sleepy. He shook his head. "No. What happened?"_

_"Well, you know you had that medicine, don't you? And it made you very tired and you got thirsty..."_

_89P13 nodded. He remembered all that very easily. "You told me I'd get tired." he reminded his creator. "Said I'd get drowsy."_

_"That's right. I looked away for no longer than ten seconds and in that time, you very nearly drank from the medicine bottle."_

_"Oh, no." 89P13 knew much better than to drink too much medicine. He would never ever do anything like that, especially after all the horrifyingly detailed stories Gax had told him._

_"Oh, yes."_

_"But...but..." That didn't make any sense at all. Gax had told him many times that drinking too much medicine was dangerous. "But I wouldn't."_

_"I'm sure you wouldn't do that normally. I've left pills, medicine, needles and all kinds of things by you in the past and you've never touched them unless it was to see what they were."_

_“I didn’t…” 89P13 knew he had never meant to, but would Gax believe that? “It wasn’t on purpose.”_

_“I didn’t think so.” Gax said. “As I told you, the medicine would make you drowsy. People aren’t good at thinking clearly when they’re drowsy. I assume that’s why you didn’t even think to ask permission before trying to down all the medicine.”_

_Never drink without permission. That was an important rule, mostly for use when outside of his cage. 89P13’s ears lowered. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to.”_

_“I know you didn’t. Like I said, you weren’t in your usual state of mind.” Gax made 89P13 look up so their eyes met. “But now you are and you fully know and understand what is and isn’t acceptable.”_

_89P13 dared to breathe. “I know all that.”_

_Gax nodded. “Then we don’t need to discuss it any more.”_

_That made a nice change. Rule breaking usually resulted in worse things than discussions, but 89P13 wasn’t about to complain.   At least not about that. Despite drinking the remaining quarter from his water bottle, he was thirsty again. “Can you fill my bottle?”_

_“I can, yes.”_

_When Gax made no move to fill the bottle, 89P13 sighed, recognising the inaction as one of his creator’s so-called jokes. “Will you fill it up?” In the hopes of gaining water more quickly, he added; “Please?”_

_“I was starting to forget that you’d learned any manners.” Gax said drily. “Yes, I’ll fill up your water for you…and then you can drink it after your first task.”_

_“Aw, Gax, come on…”_

_“Or you can have no water at all.”_

_“Fine, I’ll wait.” 89P13 muttered._

_“Good. Today, we test your somatosensory system. You’re aware that you have an incredible sense of touch, right?”_

_“Yeah. What are you gonna do about it?”_

_“Nothing. It needs no modifications. All I want to do is see how well it can sense if all your other senses are removed.”_

_89P13 didn’t like the sound of that. “I don’t want anything removed.”_

_“I’m not going to physically remove anything. Cover up your eyes so you can’t see, block your ears so you can’t hear, and find something to pinch your nostrils so you can’t smell.”_

_Still unsure, 89P13 asked; “Will it hurt?”_

_“No. There’s going to be two tests for it. One with dry hands and the other with wet hands. Some species can feel better with wet hands and I think you might be one of them.”_

_That was the only thing Gax had said which 89P13 liked the sound of. “And I can have water after the first test?”_

_“The two tests make up the task. You can have water after that.”_

_89P13 looked up at the Aakon and frowned. “That’s not fair! You gave me the stupid dehydration medicine and now you won’t let me drink after the stupid test is done!”_

_“If I ever gave you the impression that life is fair, I apologise. It isn’t fair, not even a tiny bit.” Gax picked him from the table and let 89P13 climb onto his shoulder. “Don’t fall from there. Now, listen. The tests shouldn’t take any longer than an hour apiece. That’s two hours. I have every confidence that you can do them without dying of thirst before you finish.”_

_“I don’t.”_

_“Who knows?” Gax ducked a little to find a tray containing several metal cases. “The task might even distract you from your thirst.”_

* * *

“And when I discovered them – _ha!_ – Mantis had defeated an enemy and between the two, they had brought the bar to ruin…”

Rocket was remembering the story very differently. He looked at Mantis to see if she knew what Drax was so amused by and was met by a very tired, but uncomprehending pair of eyes. “What’s he sayin’?”

Mantis simply mumbled garbled nonsense and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. Then; “Puppy, my head.”

“Mine, too. Only one solution to a hangover, Mantis. Know what it is?”

“No,” the Empath yawned.

“Drink on.” Rocket explained. “Can’t get a hangover if you’re drunk.” That said, he attempted to climb down from the bed, but was so uncoordinated, he ended up sliding and landing with a thump he was pretty sure could be heard even in the vacuum of space.

“Finally, you awaken!”

Rocket let Drax help him back up onto the bed and leaned against his leg as the man sat down, one large grey hand resting on Mantis’. “Why are you so happy?”

“Last night amused me.”

“What even happened?” Rocket knew only one thing – to have forgotten the entire events, he must have gotten supremely drunk. Whether that was good or bad, he didn’t know.”

“The barman was an assface, so I made him sleep.”

Unlikely that Mantis had come up with the nickname alone. Rocket figured that she had probably learned it from him. “Then what?" 

Drax spoke this time. “I could hear people mention two others, of both your descriptions, and I knew to find you before trouble could come your way. I came as you finished looting.”

Now Rocket was remembering little pieces. The guy refusing to serve them. The names. The drinking game. “What’s a little danger?”

“Nothing either of you could not handle. I just didn’t want either of you to be drunkenly arrested.”

Mantis chuckled softly. “We made drinks. Better than any drink I’ve ever tasted.”

“I saw and they looked abysmal, but I assume they didn’t taste how they appeared.”

“No, they were good.” Mantis agreed and she struggled to sit up. “I need to find the bathroom.”

“I can make you my remedy for your ills-“

“No, no.” Mantis insisted. “Your remedy looks like it came out of your nose. Thank you anyway.”

Drax huffed lightly as she left. “Out of my nose,” he muttered. “It took _years_ to perfect." 

“She’s got a point.”

Drax’s shoulders sank. “I know.” He brushed his thumb behind Rocket’s ear. “I hope that man did not ruin your night.”

“I think it went okay. Mantis is surprisingly fun to go drinking with.”

“I said she would be.” Drax said, his voice smug. “Maybe next time, you might believe me more easily.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, big guy.” Rocket pulled Drax’s hand back to his ears to let the man know that more petting would be appreciated. “You should come with us next time.”

“I do enjoy free beverages.” Drax stopped petting and shifted, so he was looking more clearly at Rocket. “You kept saying that you hadn’t been allowed to drink.”

Rocket's ears lowered defensively. “I was _drunk_ , Drax.”

“I know, but there is no one who has the right to tell you when you can drink something, much less assume that they can permit you to drink.” Drax reached around his head and scratched a spot by one of his many tattoos.

“I know that.”

“I notice that you often hesitate when you want cold water from the pitcher. You always take it, but it takes time.” When Rocket stared at him, waiting for some joke or light-hearted jab, Drax rested his hand on his back. “It’s understandable. The consequences you were faced with for things that weren’t even wrong…we do understand it.”

 “You all see it?”

“Not all,” Drax admitted. “Groot is too young to notice subtle things and I’m not certain that Mantis knows how bad it was.” He sighed softly. “I suppose it must seem as though one of us will jump out at you and do something unspeakable, but we will not. Not ever.”

Rocket had heard this speech many times before. Aside from Gamora hurling him out of pained instinct when he fixed her cybernetic issues and mock fights that had gotten a little too rough, none of them had ever physically harmed him. So he was being completely truthful when he said; “Yeah, I know.”

Drax wasn’t finished just yet. “If something you need or want is available to you, you should take it. Permission doesn’t come into it.”

“What rule do you think I’ve been keepin’ to the past seven years?” Rocket asked, thinking back to all the thefts and unpermitted acts he’d committed over those years. Every single one of them had resulted in an adrenaline rush from the moments of terror, part of the reason he’d done them. The other part was…well, because Drax was right. Why should permission ever come into it?  Why had he let it for so long?

Drax smiled. “Then keep to that rule.”

* * *

_The second test was the hardest and 89P13 was surprised, after ripping the blindfold off, that the two tests had taken four hours, not the predicted two. Still, whatever, he was all done now and more than ready for his water which was soon placed before him._

_“Before you grab it, there’s a third test.”_

_“Seriously?!” 89P13 snapped. “A third fuckin’ test?”_

_“Watch your language or I’ll stick soap in there. Yes, a third test. Guess what it is.”_

_89P13 thought. And then it hit him. “Can I drink the water, Gax?”_

_“There’s a word beginning with ‘p’ that you forgot.”_

_89P13 stared stonily at his creator and muttered; “Please can I have the water, Gax?”_

_“That’s better. Yes, you can have your water-“ Gax shook his head as 89P13 began guzzling it down. “You’ll be sick if you’re going to drink like that. You can’t be that thirsty.”_

_89P13 was indeed that thirsty. Still, he felt better once the water was gone. “I never want medicine again,” he told Gax seriously as he handed him the bottle for disposal. “All it does is make you stupid and thirsty.”_

_“Lucky for you, you don’t need any more of the anti-seizure medicine.” Gax said. “You understand why I don’t want you drinking things without permission, right?”_

_“Kinda? I mean…I always thought it was so I didn’t drink bleach by accident or something stupid, but I’ve never done anything like that.”_

_Gax put his hands on the floor and sat with his legs crossed by the little test subject. “When you were first formed, you got into everything. Literally nothing was safe. You would find these tiny little holes and manoeuvre yourself into them, you would claw your way into walls…you were this tiny, unstoppable force.”_

_“I don’t remember you getting mad about that.”_

_“Like I said, you were very, very young. You didn’t know right from wrong like you do now. It was before you had the important surgery to enhance your brainpower, back when you were less than four months old.”_

_89P13 knew the story well. It had removed the old memories to make space for new, more important ones, but that was okay. He didn’t really want to remember being in a cramped test tube. “Where does the rule come into it?”_

_“Well, one day, I left a disinfectant laying around. Stupid thing to do, I knew exactly what you were like, but I didn’t think. I turned my head and you were holding onto this lever that makes the fluid squirt out and in the split second that I saw you, you pulled it and drenched yourself in the stuff.”_

_“Gross!”_

_“You thought that at the time. You pulled such a disgusted face that if you hadn’t just ingested poisonous chemicals, I would’ve found it extremely funny.”_

" _Did I get sick?”_

_"You threw up and cried a lot, but you didn’t get too badly damaged.”_

_How_ embarrassing. _“In my defence, I wasn’t smart back then.”_

_“Oh, no. You were smart. You’ve always been smart. You just liked to cause havoc.”_

_“Maybe I might be smart enough that we can forget about Rule 14? I mean, I only broke it because I was on the medicine.”_

_“I don’t think you’re stupid enough to drink things you know to be dangerous, but I do think – no, I know – that you’d happily sample something that you think might taste nice. The rule stays.”_

_89P13 couldn’t easily deny that. Gax was right, he absolutely would. “You really weren’t mad that I tried to drink the stuff?”_

_"I already told you that I wasn’t. I told you why. You’re not in trouble, but you will be if you ask me again.” Gax reached for his belt and 89P13 flinched, fearing he’d suddenly changed his mind, as he had sometimes done in the past. Instead, he put the key to the toy cupboard in 89P13’s hands. “I need to fill in a form, so go get your marbles for doing a good job on the tests. You get a minute for each test. Three minutes. Go.”_

_89P13 had thought the third test was unrelated to the prior two, but he wasn’t about to protest. Marble time was sacred. He didn’t know why Gax was being so weirdly nice about what had happened, but he caught his creator glance at him in between writing on the form and his mind began turning and he came to a conclusion as he sent a blue marble to knock against Gax’s shoe, only to be returned to him with a sharp kick. “You were scared, weren’t you?”_

_“Of course I was.” It was quiet, but 89P13 knew what he heard._

‘That’s _why you’re being nice.’ 89P13 thought. ‘You thought I was gonna get sick and maybe die, just like you probably thought when I was first formed and squirted cleaning fluid into my own face.’ Of course he couldn’t tell Gax that. There were some things that were infinitely better left unsaid._


End file.
